Ladson Man Arrested on Criminal Solicitation of a Minor and Related Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Joseph Daniel Bair, 37, of Ladson, S.C., on three charges connected to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.  Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Charleston Police Department made the arrest.  Investigators with the Attorney General's Office, also a member of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with this investigation.

Investigators state Bair solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex, traveled to meet a person he believed to be a minor for sex, and encouraged them to produce child sexual abuse material.

Bair was arrested on December 5, 2021.  He is charged with one count of attempted 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); and one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.

Bair was previously convicted on related charges in 2009.

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.