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JUN 04, 2026
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced today that the South Carolina State Grand Jury has issued six indictments in an investigation known as “Ghost Story”. To date, six defendants have been indicted on illegal immigration and identity theft charges, following an investigation that began in the fall of 2024 with cooperation from state, federal, and local law enforcement agencies in South Carolina. A multi-jurisdictional law enforcement operation was conducted on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at South Carolina business Burnstein Von Seelen Precision Casting in Abbeville, South Carolina. Two managers were arrested on their State Grand Jury charges, and 48 workers at the business were detained by ICE for immigration violations.
“If you are unlawfully aiding illegal immigrants in South Carolina, you are going to be investigated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Attorney General Alan Wilson said. “If you are taking advantage of hard-working Americans, stealing their identities, and are intentionally ignoring your responsibilities as an employer in an effort to circumvent the law, we are coming for you," he added. “These crimes are not only stealing jobs from American employees but also pose a serious risk to national security. When criminals make it easy for illegal aliens to get fake identification documents, we don’t know who is working in our country, and in this operation, specifically, our national security and manufacturing sectors.”
The State Grand Jury’s indictments reflect an investigation into the extensive problem of how easily illegal immigrants in South Carolina can get fake US and State identification from “document vendors” throughout the State. It also reflects allegations that a business in South Carolina knowingly facilitated the use of fraudulent identification by illegal immigrants they employed. The indictments allege that two managers of Burnstein Von Seelen Precision Casting, Christopher Douglas Ramey and Sandy Lynn Willis, violated their legal obligations to verify the legitimacy of IDs before hiring employees, and facilitated the use of forged identity documents by illegal immigrants at the business. The remaining defendants were allegedly document vendors who obtained forged state driver’s licenses, USA social security cards, or other fake identification for illegal immigrants to use. These fake identity cards included the use of the dates of birth and Social Security numbers of actual United States citizens.
This investigation is ongoing, and certain aspects of the investigation remain sealed.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark A. Keel said: “This raid is the direct result of an exhaustive, years-long investigation. It should serve as a deterrent to anyone who participates in illegal employment. Employers who knowingly and willfully hire illegal labor must be held accountable. Employees who provide fraudulent documents in order to gain employment will be brought to justice. I want to be clear: illegal employment schemes will not be tolerated in South Carolina. This case would not be possible without our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners.”
“The crimes uncovered in Operation Ghost Story are not victimless. When illegal aliens use stolen identities and forged documents, they victimize law-abiding citizens whose personal information is misused and undermine the security of our communities. These actions also enable businesses to profit from illegal labor at the expense of honest workers and employers,” said Mark M. Zito, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in North and South Carolina. “HSI is committed to working with our partners to aggressively investigate and dismantle these criminal operations, protect victims, and hold offenders fully accountable.”
Eighth Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo said, “This is a great example of seamless coordination between multiple law enforcement agencies, working shoulder-to-shoulder with prosecutors, to finally hold accountable those who are facilitating and insulating criminal migration into our country. My office will continue to fight the scourge of illegal immigration and, most importantly, call out enablers of those entering and remaining in our country illegally. I welcome migration into our country, but it must be done the right way.”
“I want to commend the hard work of the State Grand Jury staff and their law enforcement partners at SLED, HSI, ICE, the Abbeville, Greenville, Newberry, and Greenwood County Sheriff’s Offices, and the Eighth Circuit Solicitor’s Office,” Attorney General Wilson added. “Yet again, the South Carolina State Grand Jury division of the Attorney General’s Office brings together partners across jurisdictions so we punch harder together than we ever could apart.”
Bond hearings for defendants Ramey and Willis are scheduled for Thursday, June 4, at 10:00 a.m. before the Honorable Heath P. Taylor at the Richland County Courthouse.
The following indictments were made public in the Ghost Story investigation:
The case was investigated by the South Carolina State Grand Jury, which was assisted in this case by a partnership of the Attorney General’s State Grand Jury Division, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Abbeville County Sheriff’s Office, the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office, the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, and the Eighth Circuit Solicitor’s Office. The cases will be prosecuted by State Grand Jury Division Chief Attorney Creighton Waters and Assistant Deputy Attorney General David Fernandez.
Attorney General Wilson stressed that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
For media inquiries please contact Robert Kittle, [email protected] or 803-734-3670
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