Hearing reveals accounts of former SC military school dean’s alleged sex crimes
A former dean at Camden Military Academy facing sex crime charges against students has been denied bond for a second time.
John Anthony Heflin, 54, appeared before Fifth Circuit Jude Jocelyn Newman during a hearing at the Kershaw County Courthouse on Thursday, where prosecutors argued he was a danger to the community and should remain behind bars.
Newman said that while she presumes Heflin innocent, the nature of the crimes he’s been accused of poses a considerable concern for the safety of the public.
“The nature of the allegations are so severe ... that I find that in these cases, particularly with a single man who lives alone and allegedly commits a crime like this, which is in private, in hiding, in quiet, in the shadows, there are no conditions of bond that will protect the community from the unreasonable danger posed by the defendant,” Newman said.
This summer, Heflin was charged with disseminating harmful material or exhibiting a harmful performance to a minor, second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 16 years old, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the third degree.
The charges followed a previous charge by the state Law Enforcement Division of criminal solicitation of a minor back in September 2024.
Victim accounts
Arrest warrants allege that between May 31 and Aug. 31, 2014, Heflin provided a minor with pornographic material for the purpose of masturbating with the juvenile, based on information from the teen who is now an adult. At the time of the incident, Heflin was a teacher at Camden Military Academy and the juvenile was a student.
Two victims, dubbed “NT” and “LL,” form the basis for Heflin’s charges. Both victims, who are now adults, were minors and students at the military school during the time Heflin allegedly sexually assaulted them, according to Fifth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Anna Browder.
Victim “NT,” who’s now 22, told prosecutors that when he was 12 years old Heflin would touch him inappropriately, including his private area on top of his clothing, when he would visit Heflin in his office, Browder told Newman.
“When the child indicated to [Heflin] he was not going to come back to his office anymore, [Heflin] threated him with getting kicked out of school,” Browder said.
Victim “LL,’’ who was attending the military academy to escape a bad environment in Florida, told investigators Heflin provided with him alcohol, tobacco and marijuana before the two masturbated together while watching pornography, according to Browder.
“The first assault occurred during one of those pornography sessions, when [Heflin] walked over to” ”LL” and forced the child to perform oral sex, Browder said.
Camden Military Academy, founded in 1958, is a military-style boarding school in Camden. The school serves male students between grades 7 and 12, according to information on its website.
Previous charge and lawsuit
Earlier this year, a lawsuit against Heflin and other top officials at the academy was filed in federal court, alleging the school “maintained a culture of willing indifference and reckless disregard by failing to monitor Defendant Heflin and by consciously allowing and permitting students to stay overnight at his private residence.”
The suit, which remains pending, was brought by a Florida resident and former Camden Military Academy student who was 14 years old at the school in 2015 when the events described in the lawsuit allegedly took place, according to court records.
In last September’s arrest by SLED, Hefllin was accused of urging a student to send a photo of his private parts to him via social media, according to SLED.
A warrant in that case charged that Heflin “had engaged in sexually explicit conversations” with the juvenile for two years, between 2022 and 2024, with Heflin telling the juvenile what he would ”love to do” if the juvenile came to his house. The charges are pending in Kershaw County state court.
Heflin was also a defendant in a 2017 lawsuit in federal court against him, with Camden Military Academy and two other top military academy officials. That suit alleged that Heflin preyed on a 14-year-old boy at the school, sending him hundreds of text messages and transporting the boy to his home.
In responses to that lawsuit, Camden Military Academy officials denied the allegations and said they were groundless.
That lawsuit was settled in November 2018, according to an order signed by Judge Mary Lewis. The settlement terms were not disclosed. Parties in many kinds of federal court lawsuits are allowed to agree to secret settlements that prevent the public from finding out how much was paid to end the lawsuit.
Argument for release
In support of Heflin’s release, three people familiar with the former administrator, including a former student under Heflin’s care, told Newman that he was upstanding and that the charges levied against him are not reflective of his character.
Heflin’s attorney, William Tetterton, highlighted these character testimonials and argued that Heflin has faithfully served the community.
Still, Newman said, in her experience in handling similar cases, people accused of sexual predatory crimes often have great relationships with the community and rarely look like a “boogeyman.”
“The positive relationship is often kind of the grooming process, and there could be 5,000 people that he was pleasant to and one that became his victim,” Newman said.
This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM.
