(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Matthew Ramon Drayton, 23, of Aiken, S.C., on two charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office made the arrest. Investigators with the Aiken Department of Public Safety, also a member of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation.
Investigators state Drayton engaged in criminal sexual conduct with a minor and produced child sexual abuse material.
Drayton was arrested on October 13, 2021. He is charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree (§16-3-655(B)(2)), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.
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.