Lexington Men Arrested on Criminal Solicitation of a Minor and Related Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Sheldon Blake Chavis, 24, and Steven Michael Blendowski, 36, of Lexington, S.C., on seven total charges connected to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Lexington Police Department made the arrests in these unrelated cases. 

Investigators state Blendowski solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex and encouraged them to produce child sexual abuse material. Investigators state Chavis solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex, encouraged them to produce child sexual abuse material, and sent sexually explicit images to a person he believed to be a minor.

Blendowski was arrested on January 20, 2023. He is charged with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, 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.

Chavis was arrested on January 20, 2023. He is charged with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; 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 three counts of attempted 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.

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.