Gaston man arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* and Related charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Christopher Lee Fagiole, 43, of Gaston, S.C., on three charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department made the arrest.  Investigators with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office, also a member of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation.

Investigators state Fagiole manufactured files of child sexual abuse material and sent sexually explicit images to a minor.

Fagiole was arrested on June 19, 2026. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; and two counts of dissemination of obscene material to a person under age eighteen (§16-15-345), 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 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.