Lexington County Men Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - Dec. 1, 2020 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Greg Daniel Lancelot, Jr., 23, of Cayce, S.C., Patrick Michael Kaminer, 33, of West Columbia, S.C., William E. McConnell, 35, of Cayce, S.C., and Marc D. Romanelli, 50, of Lexington, S.C., on 14 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 in four unrelated cases. Investigators with the Attorney General's Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Cayce Department of Public Safety, all also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with these investigations.

Investigators received separate CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Lancelot, McConnell and Romanelli.  Investigators state all four men distributed files of child sexual abuse material.

Each of these men was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

• Lancelot was arrested on November 17, 2020 and charged with two counts.
• Kaminer was arrested on November 24, 2020 and charged with two counts.
• McConnell and Romanelli were both arrested on November 30, 2020 and each charged with five counts.

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.