The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office announced on April 17 the arrest of 43-year-old Luis Armando Argueta Montejo of Seneca on charges including three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree and one count of incest. The investigation began after deputies responded to a medical call involving a juvenile victim who gave birth in the parking lot of Oconee Memorial Hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.
The case was transferred to an investigator with the Violent Crimes Unit of the Criminal Investigations Bureau following coordination with the Department of Social Services. Evidence presented to a judge established probable cause for issuing warrants and arresting Montejo, who was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center on a combined $80,000 surety bond. Both the juvenile victim and newborn were placed into emergency protective custody, according to an announcement on the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office website detailing the outcome of the investigation <a href="https://www.oconeelaw.com/post/oconee-county-sheriff-s-office-arrests-seneca-man-on-incest-and-criminal-sexual-conduct-with-a-minor”>according to the sheriff’s office.
Oconee County recorded a sexual abuse rate of 10.7 per 10,000 children in its 2022-2023 child maltreatment data profile. This figure is higher than South Carolina’s statewide average of 4.5 per 10,000 children for that period. The county ranked 44th among South Carolina counties for sexual abuse cases in recent data. Statewide, South Carolina Children’s Advocacy Centers reported serving 13,143 children in 2023, with sexual abuse accounting for 40 percent of cases according to South Carolina Children’s Advocacy Centers.
Nationally, at least one in four girls and one in twenty boys experience child sexual abuse before age eighteen. Approximately ninety percent of these cases are perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the child or their family. The lifetime economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States was estimated at $9.3 billion as of 2015, with more than 530,000 children identified as victims each year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has served since its establishment in 1868 following creation of the county. Twenty-one individuals have held the office through thirty-nine elections, overseeing law enforcement responsibilities including criminal investigations and public safety across Upstate South Carolina. The agency operates specialized units such as its Violent Crimes Unit within its Criminal Investigations Bureau according to information from the sheriff’s office.
