Man in West Columbia arrested for soliciting a minor
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Damontrez O’neil Anthony (DOB: 1993) of West Columbia. He was arrested on three charges connected to the sexual solicitation of a minor. The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office made the arrest. The Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, a member of the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, assisted in the arrest.
Investigators state that Anthony contacted a person he believed to be a minor online, sent sexually explicit photos, made arrangements to meet in person and then attempted to engage in sexual activity with the person he believed to be a minor.
Anthony was arrested on Wednesday. He is charged with one (1) count of Criminal Solicitation of a Minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years; one (1) count of Attempted Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, second degree (§16-3-655), a felony offense punishable by up to twenty (20) years; and one (1) count of Dissemination of Obscene Material to a Minor 12 Years or Younger, (§16-15-355), a felony offense punishable by up to fifteen (15) years imprisonment.
The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.
Wilson stressed that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.