Sumter County Man Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - June 28, 2018 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Danny Eric Hope (age 55) of Sumter, SC, on fifteen charges connected to the exploitation of a minor.  Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Attorney General’s Office made the arrest.  Investigators with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, all also members of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with this arrest.

Investigators state Hope distributed and possessed files of child pornography.  

Hope was arrested on June 28, 2018.  He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to ten years imprisonment on each count; and 15 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, third degree (§16-15-410), a felony offense punishable by up to ten years imprisonment on each count.

The case 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.