Summerville Man Arrested on Solicitation of a Minor and Child Pornography Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - Jan. 29, 2020 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Daniel Walter Bernheisel, age 57, of Summerville, SC, on 13 charges connected to the solicitation and sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Mount Pleasant Police Department made the arrest.  

Investigators state Bernheisel engaged in sexually explicit communication with and traveled to meet someone he believed to be a minor, possessed child pornography, and distributed nude images to someone he believed to be a minor.

Bernherisel was arrested on January 24, 2020. He is charged with one count of attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree (§16-3-655(B)(1)); one count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to ten years imprisonment on each count; and one count of disseminating obscene material to a person under age eighteen (§16-15-345), a felony offense punishable by up to ten years imprisonment. Additional charges were filed against Bernheisel on January 28. He is also charged with ten 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. 

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.