(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Benjamin Robert Felty, 19, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., on 13 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Mount Pleasant Police Department made the arrest. Investigators with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, Charleston City Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), all 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 Felty. Investigators state Felty distributed and possessed files of child sexual abuse material.
Felty was arrested on August 19, 2021. 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 10 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.