(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Daniel Chris Shepler, 36, of Prosperity, S.C., on seven charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office made the arrest. Investigators with the Attorney General’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), both also members of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation.
Investigators received a CyberTipline report that led them to Shepler. Investigators state Shepler distributed and possessed files of child sexual abuse material.
Shepler was arrested on September 29, 2021. He is charged with five 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 two 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 [censored]ography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.