Palmetto State News

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Edward Todd Baines, 48, of Catawba, S.C., on 10 charges related to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Mount Pleasant Police Department conducted the arrest. Investigators from the York County Sheriff's Office, Chester County Sheriff's Office, and U.S. Secret Service, all members of the state's ICAC task force, assisted in the investigation.

Investigators state that Baines solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex and sent sexually explicit images to a person he believed to be a minor. Baines was arrested on June 7, 2024. He is charged with eight counts of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count; and two counts of attempted dissemination of obscene material to a person under age eighteen (§16-15-345), also a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

This case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office. Attorney General Wilson emphasized that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.