Hampton County Man Arrested on Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor and Related Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Clay Treldon Bishop II, 19, of Early Branch, S.C., on nine total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Mount Pleasant Police Department and Charleston Police Department made the arrests.  

Investigators state Bishop solicited and traveled to meet people he believed to be minors for sex, encouraged them to produce child sexual abuse material*, and sent sexually explicit images to people he believed to be minors.

Bishop was arrested on October 18, 2023. He is charged with three counts of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count; two counts of attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor (§16-3-655(B)(1)); one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; and one count of dissemination of obscene material to a person under the age of eighteen (§16-15-345), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

While in custody, Bishop was served with additional warrants on October 19, 2023. He is charged with one additional count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; and one additional count of dissemination of obscene material to a person under the age of eighteen (§16-15-345), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 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.