Attorney General Alan Wilson announces Anderson Co. man sentenced for sexually assaulting minor

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that an Anderson County man has been sent to prison for sex crimes against minors. On July 16^th, Julio Cesar De La Cruz Reyes pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, 3^rd degree, and one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, 2^nd degree.

On August 18, 2023, Special Investigator Kevin Atkins with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office conducted a proactive investigation into the use of a file-sharing network for the distribution and possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material. While conducting this investigation, Investigator Atkins discovered a user of the network sharing files. Further investigation revealed that the files were being shared from the Anderson County residence of Julio Reyes. A search warrant was executed at the home on February 9, 2024. When law enforcement talked to Reyes, he admitted ownership of the child sexual abuse material. He also disclosed that in addition to watching and sharing child sexual abuse material, he had sexually assaulted a minor in Anderson County. Reyes was taken into custody at that time. A forensic examination of his cell phone was done by forensic examiner Jamie Johnson of the South Carolina Attorney General’s office. In all, 392 images and videos of child sexual abuse material were found on the device, including images of babies and toddlers.

Judge R. Lawton McIntosh sentenced Reyes to 15 years at the SC Department of Corrections on the CSC with a Minor, 3^rd degree charge, and 10 years at the SC Department of Corrections on the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, 2^nd degree charge. These sentences will run concurrently, and he received credit for 527 days of time served. He will have to register as a sex offender.