Midlands men arrested on 11 Child Sexual Abuse Material* charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Wesley Blake Coffee, 19, of Lugoff, S.C., and Hayden Riley Clemency, 21, of Lexington, S.C., on 11 total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office and Lexington County Sheriff's 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 CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which led them to Coffee and Clemency. Investigators state that Coffee possessed files of child sexual abuse material and Clemency distributed files of child sexual abuse material.  

Clemency was arrested on April 22, 2026. He is charged with six 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.

Coffee was arrested on April 24, 2026. 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.

These cases will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.

Attorney General Wilson stressed that 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.