Travis Hammack, 35, owner of Paddle South Outfitters in Chapin, South Carolina, was sentenced on June 30, 2022, after pleading guilty to two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor – First Degree in Lexington County General Sessions Court.  The Honorable Walton J. McLeod IV sentenced Hammack to 25 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections.  These convictions are violent crimes and Hammack must register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. 

This case was investigated by the Major Crimes Unit of the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and prosecuted by Eleventh Circuit Assistant Solicitor Ashley Wellman and Assistant Solicitor Sam Jones.

On the night of August 29, 2021, Hammack coerced a teenage girl to send him sexually explicit videos via Snap Chat.  The next morning, Hammack physically assaulted the victim. After the assault, the victim reported that Hammack had been sexually abusing her for several years and that Hammack would record the incidents of sexual abuse. 

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department arrested Hammack and seized his cell phone.  Hammack’s phone and Snap Chat records were searched pursuant to a search warrant. Despite apparent attempts to delete data from his phone, two sexually explicit videos of a minor were recovered, as well other evidence corroborating the victim’s report of years of sexual and psychological abuse by Hammack.

The victim and a law enforcement investigator addressed the court at the sentencing hearing. Hammack has been transported to the S.C. Department of Corrections to begin immediate service of the sentence.