SC man who planned to ravage 14-year-old boy is going to prison, prosecutor says
A South Carolina man is going to federal prison for decades after he was convicted of producing child sexual abuse material, aka kiddie porn, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Robert K. Bonesteel, a 63-year-old West Columbia resident, was sentenced to more than 21 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday in a news release.
Bonesteel was arrested in November 2023 following an undercover operation, according to the release. Bonesteel thought he was communicating online with a 14-year-old boy, but it was actually undercover law enforcement officers who were posing as a minor as a part of a chat operation used to identify child sex offenders, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
In online conversations with who he believed to be a 14-year-old boy, Bonesteel discussed “ravaging” the child and engaging in oral sex, according to the release.
Bonesteel then agreed to meet the child at the minor’s home in Lexington, where Bonesteel believed the child was home alone, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Bonesteel arrived at what he believed to be the minor’s home with condoms and was arrested, according to the release.
Following his arrest, law enforcement searched Bonesteel’s phone and discovered that he had produced and disseminated child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. That discovery revealed there was a minor who was victimized by Bonesteel, the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed to The State. That real-life minor victim is separate from the fictional 14-year-old law enforcement officers portrayed during the chat operation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Further searches of Bonesteel’s phone revealed social media messages where Bonesteel had coached other individuals on how to groom children and sexually abuse them, according to the release.
U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Bonesteel to 260 months in prison, to be followed by a term of court-ordered supervision, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. There is no parole in the federal system.
The court ordered that restitution be paid to the real-life minor victim, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
When he was arrested in November 2023, Bonesteel was also charged with multiple state sex crimes involving a minor, Lexington County court records show.
Bonesteel is facing pending charges in South Carolina for second-degree criminal sexual conduct with minor, criminal solicitation of a minor and three counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to court records. Bond was set at $30,000 for each count and posted the day after he was arrested, court records show.
The federal case against Bonesteel was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office, the U.S. Secret Service, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and the Lexington Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elle Klein prosecuted the case. Lexington attorney Robert Williams Sr., was listed as Bonesteel’s lawyer for the state charges.
Bonesteel is not currently listed on the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s sex offender registry. It’s believed he will be added to SLED’s list upon his release from prison.
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