SC man busted on child porn charges in undercover FBI sting, prosecutor says
A South Carolina man was arrested on multiple child pornography charges after sharing photos online with an undercover FBI agent, the U.S. Attorney in South Carolina said Thursday.
Justin Chavis was arrested on a federal criminal complaint and charged with child exploitation, child pornography, and distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a news release.
The Williston man engaged in conversations with an undercover law enforcement officer where he shared sexually explicit images and videos of children that he claimed to have created, according to the release.
The images involved a child younger than 10 who was photographed in the nude, sometimes with a naked adult male, according to an affidavit.
The sexually explicit images were shared on peer to peer (P2P) files, and they were notified as members of a chat group, according to the affidavit.
Chavis waived a preliminary hearing and remains locked up, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James May of the Columbia office.
U.S. Attorney Peter McCoy declined comment, but said, “The federal criminal complaint in this matter speaks for itself ... However, I would note that even during this pandemic the U.S. Attorney’s Office is open for business and we will continue to protect the people of South Carolina, especially its children.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 12:02 PM.
