Boiling Springs Man Arrested on Criminal Solicitation of a Minor and Related Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - April 1, 2021 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Thomas Earl Parker, Jr., 31, of Boiling Springs, S.C., on two charges connected to the solicitation of a minor.  Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Greenville County Sheriff's Office made the arrest.  Investigators with the Gwinnett County (GA) Police Department, a member of the Georgia ICAC Task Force, and the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, also a member of the S.C. ICAC Task Force, assisted with this investigation.

Investigators state Parker distributed child sexual abuse material and solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex.

Parker was arrested on March 26, 2021. He is charged with one count of attempted criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; and one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), 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.