South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Maston Arthur Williams, 25, of Johnsonville, S.C., on 10 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors.
Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Attorney General's Office made the arrest. Investigators from the Florence County Sheriff's Office, and the U.S. Secret Service, both also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation. Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which led them to Williams. Investigators state Williams engaged in criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and manufactured, distributed, and possessed files of child sexual abuse material.* Williams was arrested on December 11, 2024. He is charged with four counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first degree (§16-3-655(A)(1)); one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; two 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 three 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. This 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.
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