Attorney General Henry McMaster announced Wednesday that the Attorney General's Office and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force it oversees has successfully prosecuted 101 Internet Child Predators since the Criminal Solicitation of a Minor law was passed in April 2004.
The Task Force has arrested 170 suspected Internet Predators since April 2004.
According to a released sent by the McMaster's office Wednesday, every single case prosecuted to date has resulted in conviction; 98 were the result of guilty pleas and 3 defendants were found guilty at trial. These cases were all prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.
When the Internet Predator Law passed in 2004, SLED was the only law enforcement agency on the Task Force. In 2005, McMaster sought to expand the Task Force to include local law enforcement agencies. To date, fifty (50) law enforcement agencies across the state have joined the Task Force. In all, seventy-five (75) law enforcement officers are associated with the Task Force through these member agencies.
McMaster made the announcements amid a host of law enforcement officers representing a number of the law enforcement agencies that have joined the Task Force since 2005.
"These milestones in our fight against Internet Child Predators in South Carolina are a testament to the professionalism and dedication of the numerous law enforcement officers in the state that work in daily cooperation with each other to make this Task Force a success," said McMaster.
"South Carolina's Internet Child Predator law is among the strongest in the nation. It has been tested and appealed, and it has won every time. The overwhelming success of our prosecutions, and the vigorous work of fifty law enforcement agencies across the state is sending a clear message - if Internet Predators try to harm our children, they'll be caught and aggressively prosecuted."
For a complete summary of the topics covered above, please view these links:
One Hundred One Convictions
50 Task Force Member Agencies
170 Task Force Arrests
Additional online resource: www.sckids.org/
