08/25/2026
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of a Columbia man on child s*xual abuse material and related charges.
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Columbia Man Arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* and Related Charges
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Timothy Lewis Anderson (age 66) of Columbia, S.C., on three charges connected to the s*xual exploitation of a minor. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department made the arrest. Investigators with the Attorney General's Office and Richland County Sheriff's Office, both also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, also assisted with the investigation.
Investigators state Anderson encouraged a person he believed to be a minor to produce child s*xual abuse material, distributed child s*xual abuse material, and sent s*xually explicit images to a person he believed to be a minor.
Anderson was arrested on August 21, 2026. He is charged with one count of attempted s*xual exploitation of a minor, first degree (§16-15-395), a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment; one count of s*xual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; and one count of attempted dissemination of obscene material to a person under age eighteen (§16-15-345), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 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.
* Child s*xual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes. "Po*******hy" can imply the child was a consenting participant. Globally, the term child po*******hy is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.