Palmetto State News

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Jerome Shahid Brown, 26, of Moore, S.C., and Christopher Morris Shepard, 49, of Pelzer, S.C., on 11 total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office and the South Carolina Department of Corrections made the arrests in these unrelated cases.

Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Brown. Investigators state Brown and Shepard both possessed files of child sexual abuse material.

Brown was arrested on April 16, 2024. He is charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, third degree (§16-15-410), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

Shepard was arrested on April 16, 2024. He is charged with six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, third degree (§16-15-410), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count. Both of these cases will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.

Attorney General Wilson stressed all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law. In addressing the terminology used, Wilson highlighted that "Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes" rather than the term "pornography" which can suggest a child's consent.

Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM to accurately depict the nature of the material involved in such criminal activities.