Lowcountry Men Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* Charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Robert Arthur Petit, Sr., 78, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Frank Michael Jones, Jr., 33, of Bonneau, S.C., on five total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Mount Pleasant Police Department and Goose Creek Police Department made the arrests in these unrelated cases. Investigators with the Attorney General's Office, also a member 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 Petit and Jones. Investigators state Petit and Jones both possessed files of child sexual abuse material.

Petit was arrested on August 24, 2023. He is charged with four 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.

Jones was arrested on August 26, 2023. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, third degree (§16-15-410), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

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.