(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – June 2, 2021 – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of D’Andre Lashaun Brown, 21, of Walterboro, S.C., Kenneth M. Owens, 39, of Anderson, S.C., Isaac Louis Mintz, 31, of Greer, S.C., and Matthew James Tinker, 22, of Lexington, S.C. on 14 total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators across the state made the arrests in these unrelated cases.
Investigators received CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to each of these men. Investigators state all of the men distributed files of child sexual abuse material. Mintz also possessed child sexual abuse material.
Brown was arrested on May 20, 2021 by ICAC investigators with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office. He is charged with 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.
Owens was arrested on May 24, 2021 by ICAC investigators with the Anderson Police Department. 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.
Mintz was arrested on May 27, 2021 by investigators with the Greer Police Department. 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 seven 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.
Tinker was arrested on May 29, 2021 by ICAC investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office. 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.
Investigators with the Attorney General’s Office, also a member of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with each of these investigations.
All of these cases 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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