(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – Dec. 7, 2020 – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Stephen Howard Dial, Jr., 37, of Florence, SC, on six charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office made the arrest.  

Investigators state Dial solicited sex from a minor, engaged in criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and encouraged a minor to produce and send sexually explicit images.

Dial was arrested on December 5, 2020. He is charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, third degree (§16-3-655(B)(1)); one count of criminal solicitation of a minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; one count of criminal sexual conduct, third degree (§16-3-654), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor (§16-17-490), a felony offense punishable by up to three years imprisonment on each count; and one count of promoting the prostitution of a minor, third degree (§16-15-415(A)), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.

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.