Charleston Men Arrested on Solicitation and Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Andrew Reed Benson, 29, of Charleston, S.C., and Alan R. Strauss, 56, of Charleston, S.C. on 12 total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office and Charleston Police Department made the arrests in these unrelated cases. Investigators with the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Mount Pleasant Police Department, and Attorney General's Office, all also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation. 

Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to both Benson and Strauss. Investigators state Benson solicited a minor for sex and produced child sexual abuse material and Strauss was in possession of child sexual abuse material.

Benson was arrested on February 13, 2023. He is charged with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.

Strauss was arrested on February 23, 2023. He is charged with 10 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.

Both of these cases 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.