Dillon County Man Arrested on Multiple Sexual Exploitation of a Minor Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - May 1, 2020 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of David Quintel McLaughlin, 38, of Hamer, SC, on seven charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Darlington County Sheriff's Office made the arrest. Investigators with SLED and the Dillon County Sheriff's Office, both also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, as well as the Dillon Police Department, assisted with this arrest.

Investigators state McLaughlin solicited sex from a minor, kidnapped a minor, engaged in criminal sexual conduct with a minor, encouraged a minor to produce and send sexually explicit images, as well as blackmailed and extorted a minor.

McLaughlin was arrested on April 29, 2020. He is charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree (§16-3-655(b)); one count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; one count of disseminating obscene material to a person under age eighteen (§16-15-345), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; one count of kidnapping (§16-3-910), a felony offense punishable by up to 30 years imprisonment; and one count of blackmail (§16-17-640), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

This 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.