Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) has reportedly failed to prosecute the overwhelming majority of child pornography and sexual exploitation cases in Dorchester County.
According to internal records reviewed by Rep. Nancy Mace, from 2019 to 2022, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office (SCAG), under Wilson’s leadership, handled 385 warrants for child pornography cases in Dorchester County, yet only 29 resulted in convictions.
That’s a conviction rate of just 7.5%, with 356 cases dismissed outright and not a single one taken to trial.
“We obtained FOIA documents showing South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson failed to prosecute p*dophiles in Dorchester County,” Rep. Nancy Mace wrote on X.
“Nearly every single child p*dophile case under Wilson’s watch in Dorchester County has been dismissed or dropped. WE WANT ANSWERS. NOW,” she added.
Key Findings from the FOIA Release:
- 385 child exploitation cases handled by SCAG since 2019
- 356 cases dismissed outright
- 0 trials held — not a single one taken before a jury
- 29 convictions (7.5% conviction rate)
- 324 pending cases, averaging 740 days without resolution
- Most defendants currently out on bond and living in local communities
The report, signed by First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe, describes a pattern of leniency and negligence by the AG’s office:
The numbers above demonstrate that since January 1, 2019, of the 385 warrants handled by the SCAG, only 29 resulted in convictions— rate of 7.5%—and the remaining 356 warrants were dismissed outright. The high rate of dismissals is likely the reason over 90% of the child pornographers who pleaded guilty received suspended sentences.
For the few convictions that were obtained, only 2 defendants received an active time sentence, with the remainder receiving probationary or time-served sentences.
Specifically, 31 of the 33 defendants either had charges dismissed completely or received some type of suspended sentence.
Notably, this soft approach to child pornography cannot be attributed to judges handing down lenient sentences. This is because not a single case has been taken to a jury trial-all of these convictions were negotiated by the SCAG.
The SCAG presently has 324 cases pending in Dorchester County. The average age of these cases is 740 days and growing with each passing day. This accounts for 9.5% of the total General Sessions docket in Dorchester County.
This is an unacceptable number of pending cases when you consider that the SCAG has not tried any child pornography cases in Dorchester County and most of these defendants are currently out on bond, living in our community.
The data, originally outlined in the First Circuit Solicitor’s 2022–2023 Dorchester County budget request, clearly indicated that law enforcement agencies within the First Judicial Circuit had lost confidence in the Attorney General’s Office due to its inefficiency in prosecuting child exploitation cases and its overly lenient approach to plea negotiations.
In response, the First Circuit Solicitor’s Office has requested an additional $150,000 to establish a dedicated child pornography prosecution unit, separate from its general operations.
“This data is appalling and indefensible,” said Congresswoman Mace in a statement. “When almost every single child predator case is being dismissed and nearly every conviction results in a slap on the wrist, it is a betrayal of justice and an active threat to Lowcountry children.”
Mace added, “The Attorney General has a duty to protect the most vulnerable among us: our children. Instead, he’s failing them, and local prosecutors are being forced to pick up the pieces.”
JUST IN: We obtained FOIA documents showing South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson failed to prosecute p*dophiles in Dorchester County.
Nearly every single child p*dophile case under Wilson’s watch in Dorchester County has been dismissed or dropped.
WE WANT ANSWERS. NOW. pic.twitter.com/yz5ihTqhCe
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) October 6, 2025
Following Congresswoman Nancy Mace’s post on X exposing the documents, Wilson’s office pushed back, calling Mace’s remarks “deceptive.”
In a statement provided to The Gateway Pundit, Robert Kittle, Communications Director for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, said:
The information that Congresswoman Mace sent out is completely inaccurate. She got those numbers from a local solicitor who was asking Dorchester County for a $150,000 budget increase three years ago and used inaccurate or purposely skewed numbers to try to justify his budget increase.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit had 42 cases resolve in Dorchester between January 2019 and December 2022.
30 were pleas or trials
8 were dismissed for insufficient evidence
3 were federally adopted
1 the offender died before case was resolvedOf the 30 pleas/trials, 6 received active sentences at SC DOC and an additional 8 others received credit for time spent in jail awaiting their plea.
I think Rep. Mace is assuming when we dismiss a charge in a case, we are dismissing the entire case, which is inaccurate.
Some of the defendants were arrested on 20 plus counts, but they pled to fewer charges as some of the counts were dismissed in exchange for a plea. The sentence ends up being the same, whether they plead to one charge or several.
She complains that we, “Failed to take a single child exploitation case to trial,” but the vast majority of our cases do not go to trial because the defendants plead guilty, without the time and expense to the taxpayers of having a trial.
As for, “Allowed hundreds of defendants to remain on bond for an average of two years or more,” these cases involve multiple computers, phones, and storage devices, all of which have to be forensically examined.
All videos and images of child sexual abuse material must then be checked to see if they involve victims who may still be being abused.
This time period was also during the COVID pandemic, and the courts were shut down, so there were no trials for months.
