Dillon Man Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* and Related Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Dharmeshkumar Hasmukhbhai Patel, 38, on three charges connected to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Marion County Sheriff's Office made the arrest.  

Investigators state Patel solicited and traveled to meet a person he believed to be a minor for sex and encouraged a person he believed to be a minor to engage in prostitution.

Patel was arrested on September 12, 2022. 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; one count of attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor (§16-3-655(B)(1)); and one count of participation in the prostitution of a minor (§16-15-425 (A)), a felony offense punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment.

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.