South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that his office has filed 20 additional charges against Richard Channing Shealy, 53, of Lexington.

He is charged with two counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor First Degree, four counts of Committing a Lewd Act Upon a Child, 10 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, First degree, and four counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Second degree. Shealy was initially arrested on March 26, 2026, on 13 charges of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Second and Third degree, for distributing and possessing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). The new charges allege that Shealy possessed, distributed, and produced CSAM, including alleged acts of sexual assault on a minor.

At a bond hearing this morning in Lexington, Magistrate Judge Gary Reinhart denied bond for Shealy.

An investigator in the Attorney General’s Office initiated the case after seeing files shared online. The Attorney General’s Office referred the case to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, which made the arrest in March. The Sheriff’s Department made these additional charges after investigators uncovered additional images and information from the devices after a search warrant was conducted at his home. Shealy turned himself in this morning on the new charges.

Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, First degree (§16-15-395), is a felony with a penalty of three to 20 years in prison on each count. Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Second degree (§16-15-405), is a felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison on each count. Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Third degree (§16-15-410), is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison on each count. Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, First Degree (§16-3-655) is a felony that carries 10-30 years based upon the time the image was created. Committing a Lewd Act on a Minor (§16-15-0140) carries up to 15 years based upon the time the act was committed. (This crime has since been changed to Criminal Sexual Conduct of a Minor, Third degree.)

Attorney General Wilson stressed that 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 that the child was a consenting participant. Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.