(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – An Aiken County man is going to prison for 20 years for sex crimes against children. Joshua Armentrout pleaded guilty today to one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor Second Degree and one count of Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor Third Degree in Aiken County before the Honorable Judge Courtney Clyburn Pope.
Investigators with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office began an investigation into the online distribution of child sexual abuse material after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children forwarded a report of an individual in Aiken County distributing child sexual abuse material. Investigators identified Armentrout’s home as being the source of the child sexual abuse material and executed a search warrant on the address. While executing the search warrant, Chief Investigator David Grubbs located evidence of Armentrout sexually assaulting a previously unknown child victim of sexual abuse. When confronted with the evidence, Armentrout made multiple confessions to Special Investigator Shannon Sturgill.
Judge Clyburn Pope sentenced Armentrout to 10 years active time for the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor Second Degree charge and 10 years active time for Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor Third Degree. Those sentences will run consecutively for a total sentence of 20 years in prison. Upon his release, he will have to register as a sex offender and be required to maintain lifetime GPS monitoring.
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Ryan prosecuted the case.