Camden Man Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - Sept. 3, 2020 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Thomas Eugene Durant, 44, of Camden, S.C., on 10 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Attorney General's Office made the arrest. Investigators with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office and Camden Police Department, all also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation and arrest.

Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Durant. Investigators state Durant possessed multiple files of child sexual abuse material.  

Durant was arrested on September 2, 2020. He is charged with 10 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.  

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.

* 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.