Lexington and Newberry County Men Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* and Related Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of John Richard Malpass, 18, of Lexington, S.C., Phillip Benjamin Suddeth, 34, of Lexington, S.C., and Kenneth Allen Cook, 33, of Newberry, S.C. on 13 total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department made the arrests in these unrelated cases. Investigators with the Attorney General's Office and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), both also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with these investigations.

Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Suddeth. Investigators state Malpass and Suddeth possessed child sexual abuse material. Investigators state Malpass encouraged a minor to produce sexual abuse material and Cook solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex.  

Malpass was arrested on January 11, 2022. He is charged with five 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; and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.

Suddeth was arrested on January 13, 2022. He is charged with five 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.

Cook was arrested on January 20, 2022. He is charged with two counts of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

These cases 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.