Edgefield Man Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of James Thomas Covar, 57, of Edgefield, S.C., on three charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Attorney General's Office made the arrest. Investigators with the Edgefield County Sheriff's Office, Greenwood County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Secret Service, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), all also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation.

Investigators state Covar possessed files of child sexual abuse material.  

Covar was arrested on February 16, 2022. He is charged with three 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.

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.