Ronald Dean Jones, 54, of Lexington, has been arrested on six charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors.
Jones was arrested Tuesday. He is charged with six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree, a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department made the arrest. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest Thursday. Investigators with the Attorney General’s Office and U.S. Marshals Service, both also members of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation.

A press release from Wilson’s office stated that Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that led them to Jones. Investigators state Jones distributed multiple files of child sexual abuse material. This case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.

• Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes. “Pornography” can imply the child was a consenting participant. Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.