(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Sept.25, 2020 – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Wesley Dalton Helms, 24, of Hickory, N.C., on 10 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Horry County Sheriff’s Office made the arrest. Investigators with  Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), also a member of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with this case.

Investigators state Helms possessed multiple files of child sexual abuse material.  

Helms was arrested on September 25, 2020.  He is charged with 10 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.

This case 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.