The South Carolina Attorney Generals Office is reporting the arrest of 37 year old Robert Douglas Holmes of Waterloo.
Holmes faces 5 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigators with the Attorney General's Office made the arrest.
A CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led Investigators to Holmes who said he distributed and possessed files of child sexual abuse material.
Holmes was arrested on June 3 and faces up to 50 years in prison.
The Attorney Generals Office will prosecute, Alan Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent until they are proven guilty in a court of law.
Investigators with the United States Secret Service, Marshals Service and Laurens County Sheriff's Office, assisted with the arrest of Holmes.
Press Release from the Attorney General's Office below:
Laurens County Man Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Robert Douglas Holmes (age 37), of Waterloo, SC, on five charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor.
Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Attorney General's Office made the arrest. Investigators with the United States Secret Service, United States Marshals Service and Laurens County Sheriff's Office, all also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with the arrest.
Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Holmes. Investigators state Holmes distributed and possessed files of child sexual abuse material.
Holmes was arrested on June 3, 2020. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; and four 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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