Attorney General Alan Wilson announces Upstate registered sex offender gets 10 years in prison

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that, on April 8^th, Bunky Wayne Balcombe entered a guilty plea in Laurens County to four counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, 3^rd degree, before the Honorable Eugene C. Griffith, Jr.

On August 18, 2023, the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a residence in Laurens County about a possible sex-related crime. When they arrived, law enforcement met two people who had been in contact with Bunky Balcombe. At some point after law enforcement was called but before they arrived, Balcombe admitted to the men that he had been talking to several underage girls on multiple platforms, and he confessed to them that he had child sexual abuse material on his phone. According to one of the men, Balcombe showed them images of child sexual abuse material while they were waiting for law enforcement to arrive. Investigator Jonathan Brown was called to the scene and, after reading Balcombe his Miranda rights, Balcombe told him that he had child sexual abuse material on his phone. A subsequent examination of Balcombe’s cell phone revealed multiple images of child sexual abuse, and Balcombe was arrested at that time.

Judge Griffith sentenced Balcombe to 15 years in prison, suspended to 10 years in prison followed by five years of probation. He received credit for 180 days already served and forfeited his cell phone. Balcombe is already a registered sex offender who was previously prosecuted by the South Carolina Attorney General’s office in 2019.