Lexington County Men Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - July 7, 2020 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of two Lexington county residents in unrelated cases.  Anthony Michael Crispino, III, 26, of Columbia, S.C., and Michael Wayne Davis, 61, of Leesville, S.C., were arrested on seven total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff's Office made the arrests. Investigators with the S.C. Attorney General's Office, also a member of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with both investigations.  Investigators with the U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), both also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, and the Connecticut Department of Public Safety assisted with the Crispino case.

Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Davis.  A referral from the Connecticut Department of Public Safety led investigators to Crispino.  Investigators state Crispino encouraged a minor victim to produce and send sexually explicit images and then blackmailed the minor victim.  Investigators state Davis possessed multiple files of child sexual abuse material.  

Crispino was arrested on June 24, 2020. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; and one count of blackmail (§16-17-640), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

Davis was arrested on June 30, 2020. 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.

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.

* Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes. "Pornography" can imply the child was a consenting participant.  Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.