Lowcountry Men Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Jordan Eric Vandell Blake Jr., 19, of Johns Island, S.C., and Aiden Joseph Mahon, 18, of Galivants Ferry, S.C., on eight total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office and Horry County Sheriff's Office made the arrests in these unrelated cases. Investigators with the Attorney General's Office, Charleston Police Department, and Department of Homeland Security, all 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 both Blake and Mahon.  Investigators state Blake distributed and possessed child sexual abuse material and Mahon distributed files of child sexual abuse material.

Blake was arrested on February 21, 2023. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; and 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.

Mahon was arrested on February 22, 2023. He is charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

Both of 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.