SC police officer charged in criminal sexual conduct with a child case, SLED says

A South Carolina police officer has been charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announced Friday.

An investigation revealed that David Lonny Geronimo Templet, a former officer with the Latta Police Department, “attempted to rub” an 11-year-old on July 11, 2019, according to arrest warrant affidavits.

Between July 2019 and September 2020, Templet is also accused of masturbating in front of two juvenile victims in separate incidents and he “attempted to rub” a juvenile victim while they slept in another, according to the affidavits. These actions placed the child involved at an “unreasonable risk of harm, affecting the child’s mental health.”

Further details about the incidents were redacted from the four affidavits.

SLED charged Templet with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, which is a “lewd or lascivious act upon the body, or its parts, of a child under sixteen years of age” with the intent of “arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires of the actor or the child,” under South Carolina law.

He was also charged with exhibiting harmful performance to minors and two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.

Templet was arrested and booked at the Dillon County Detention Center. The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office will prosecute the case.

Alexa Jurado

The State

Alexa Jurado is a news reporter for The State covering Lexington County and Richland County schools. She previously wrote about the University of South Carolina and contributes to this coverage. A Chicago suburbs native, Alexa graduated from Marquette University and previously wrote for publications in Illinois and Wisconsin. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Milwaukee Press Club and the South Carolina Press Association.