Two Midlands men arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* charges

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Luther Cain Dawkins, 18, of Gaston, S.C., and Ronnie Maurice Sanders, Jr., 18, of Columbia, S.C., on nine total charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office and Lexington County Sheriff's Department made the arrests in these unrelated cases. Investigators with the Richland County Sheriff's Office and Homeland Security Investigations, both also members 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 Dawkins and Sanders. Investigators state that Dawkins possessed files of child sexual abuse material and Sanders distributed files of child sexual abuse material.  

Dawkins was arrested on March 4, 2026. He is charged with three 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.

Sanders was arrested on March 10, 2026. He is charged with six 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.

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.