Twenty-one people were charged in three separate indictments which involved two cockfighting ventures operated in Lexington and Williamsburg Counties. Undercover officers attended eight cockfighting derbies held near Swansea in Lexington County and near Oceida in Williamsburg County.

The maximum penalty for conspiracy, operating an unlawful animal fighting venture and operating an illegal gambling business is five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 on each charge

The indictments are the result of a 13-month undercover investigation by state and federal authorities.

A Sumter Man has been sentenced for robbing the same bank twice.Deonta Lamont Carpenter, age 30, was sentenced to 328 months in federal prison court for two armed robberies of the Bank of America. Carpenter was tracked down by SLED bloodhounds after an all-day manhunt following the first robbery on November 4, 2004. He was released on bond and three days later robbed the same bank, this time getting away with more than $330,000. Carpenter was captured one week later in Columbia by officers of the Fugitive Squad of the U.S. Marshal Service.

In the first robbery, Carpenter and Joshua Michael Cogdell, also of Sumter, entered the bank with guns and robbing it of $20,000. Witnesses were able to give law enforcement a description of the car and the two were spotted by a South Carolina highway patrolman. Carpenter fled on foot into the woods with the bag of money which was also tracked down by the blood hounds. None of the money stolen in the second robbery was recovered.

Carpenter pled guilty after two days of trial in federal court in Columbia. Last July, Cogdell was sentenced to 308 months federal imprisonment for his role in the robbery. Neither Carpenter nor Cogdell will be eligible for parole.