South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of John Eric Gibbs, 61, of North Charleston, S.C., on nine charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office made the arrest. Investigators with the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office, Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, Charleston County Sheriff's Office, and Homeland Security Investigations, all members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with this investigation.
Investigators state Gibbs distributed and possessed files of child sexual abuse material.
Gibbs was arrested on September 3, 2024. He is charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count; and six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, third degree (§16-15-410), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.
The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.
Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
* Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes. "Pornography" can imply the child was a consenting participant. Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.