Mount Pleasant Man Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - July 22, 2021 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of James Francis Phillips, 59, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., on ten charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Mount Pleasant Police Department made the arrest. Investigators with the Attorney General's Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, all also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation and arrest.

Investigators received a CyberTipline report that led them to Phillips. Investigators state Phillips possessed multiple files of child sexual abuse material.  

Phillips was arrested on July 21, 2021. He is charged with ten 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.