Child pornography ‘crackdown’ leads to arrest of six Lexington County men

Six Lexington County men are facing charges of sexual exploitation of a minor as part of a “crackdown” on child pornography.

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department led an investigation with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office into tips they received involving allegations of distribution of child pornography and one tip that a man had encouraged a minor to create child pornography, according to a Friday news release from the attorney general’s office.

The men arrested and their charges were:

• Rodney Black, 49, of Lexington. Black is facing five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly distributing child pornography on the internet. He was arrested May 1.
• Jacob Tyler Burks, 22, of Swansea. Burks is facing three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly distributing child pornography through social media “on multiple occasions.” He was arrested May 1.
• James Deese, 62, of Lexington. Deese was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly distributing child pornography through social media. He was arrested on May 3.
• Stephen Downs, 66, of Lexington. Downs is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly distributing child pornography through social media. He was arrested May 4.
• William Freeman, 37, of Lexington. Freeman is facing one count of sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly using social media to encourage a minor victim to create child pornography. He was arrested May 3.
• Sean Wilcox, 21, is facing one count of sexual exploitation of a minor for allegedly distributing child pornography through social media. He was arrested May 3.

Each count of sexual exploitation of a minor is a felony offense that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

In addition to the attorney general’s office, sheriff’s investigators worked with Homeland Security Investigations, the release said. The prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office will be handling the cases.

This story was originally published May 12, 2017 at 4:25 PM.