Chesterfield County brothers arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of two brothers, William Todd Motes, 37, of Pageland, S.C., and Bobby Willie Lee Motes, Jr., 38, of Ruby, S.C., on seven total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office made the arrests in these related cases. Investigators with the U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security Investigations, both also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with these investigations.

Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which led them to William Motes. Investigators state William Motes possessed files of child sexual abuse material, and Bobby Motes, Jr. possessed files of artificial intelligence-generated child sexual abuse material.  

William Motes was arrested on March 6, 2026. He is charged with five 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.

Bobby Motes, Jr. was arrested on March 6, 2026. He is charged with two counts of possession of a visual depiction or representation of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, activity, or nudity (§16-15-390(C)), 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 that 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.