Hilton Head barber arrested on suspicion of numerous drug charges

A Bluffton man was arrested at his Hilton Head barber shop Friday morning on suspicion of multiple felony drug charges, including dealing heroin near a school.

Anthony “Tony” Mazzochi, 30, faces charges of sale and distribution of heroin, trafficking heroin, and possession of a controlled substance.

Mazzochi was arrested in the parking lot of Elite Barber Shop on New Orleans Road at about 10:30 a.m. Friday following a month-long investigation, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office news release said. Deputies found 50 pills of heroin, a Xanax bar and a large amount of cash on Mazzochi when he was arrested, the release said.

No drugs were found in his pickup or the barber shop, the release said.

Mazzochi was booked at Beaufort County Detention Center and remained jailed Friday afternoon. No bond had been set.

He has faced drug and weapons charges in the past, Beaufort County court records show.

Mazzochi pleaded guilty to marijuana possession on 2010. He pleaded guilty in 2009 to unlawfully carrying a pistol, illegal sale or delivery of a pistol and resisting arrested related to an October 2008 incident.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing Schedule 4 drugs with the intent to distribute in 2009, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2008 and for unlawfully carrying a pistol in 2006, court records show.

Mazzochi had recently opened Elite Barber Shop on New Orleans Road, he told a reporter in a story published earlier this week on islandpacket.com. He had previously owned Tony’s Barber Shop in Bluffton, he said.

He spent two months renovating the space and called the business a traditional barber shop with “a new-school flare to it.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Hilton Head barber arrested on suspicion of numerous drug charges."