Former USC scientist found guilty of sexually enticing a minor
While texting who he believed was a 14-year-old girl named Zoe, then-University of South Carolina scientist Mohammad Harchegani — also known as Alex Shaw — described how he planned to sexually please the minor.
Unbeknownst to Harchegani, Zoe was actually an undercover sheriff’s deputy and part of South Carolina’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force or ICAC.
Harchegani, 39, a legal permanent resident from Iran, was arrested in January 2025 and charged with attempted enticement of a minor in violation of federal law. Following a two-day trial that began Wednesday, a jury found Harchegani guilty Friday afternoon. U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis presided over the case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elle Klein and Winston Holliday, while Nate Brady and Judea Davis, of the federal public defender's office, represented Harchegani.
During trial, the prosecution presented four witnesses, including Jordan Smith of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office — who posed as Zoe. Adam Creech and Carol Tarte, who both are ICAC special investigators with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office also testified along with Jacquelyn Hamelrick of the FBI.
Evidence presented at trial showed a text exchange between Harchegani and “Zoe,” where the 39-year-old engaged in inappropriate conversations with the assumed minor while working as a researcher and scientist at USC in December 2024.
Since his arrest, Harchegani has remained suspended from his role as assistant scientist in the College of Engineering and Computing at USC without pay, according to records.
‘If you won’t tell I won’t’
During the text exchange, Harchegani acknowledged Zoe was only 14, telling the minor, “If you won’t tell I won’t. It’s between the two of us.”
A day later, after confirming Zoe was home alone, evidence showed that Harchegani got in his car and headed to a McDonald’s on Garners Ferry Road to pick up an order of chicken nuggets and a diet coke at the request of the decoy minor.
With food in hand, Harchegani walked up to a white house with an inflatable dinosaur out front — five minutes away from McDonald’s — to meet Zoe, who’d he’d repeatedly referred to as “darling” in text exchanges.
The defense, who presented one witness — Christopher James Watkins, a certified computer forensics expert — argued Harchegani did not have a “predisposition” to sexually engage with minors because child sexual abuse material was never found on any of his devices and that he had not chatted with any other minors besides Zoe.
In fact, the defense fought to tell Lewis that Harchegani was “induced” or “entrapped” to commit the crime.
Lewis disagreed, pointing to Hamelrick’s testimony, where the agent told jurors Harchegani was given at least two opportunities to discontinue his conversations with Zoe, but failed to do so.
Specifically, while texting Harchegani, the decoy said they would understand if Harchegani didn’t want to continue talking with them because they were underage — followed by a tear-faced emoji.
Harchegani, nevertheless, continued to chat with the decoy, discussing her “v-card” (virginity) and the whereabouts of her parents.
He faces a minimum of 10 years to life in prison.
This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 1:08 PM.
