Columbia, SC 03/25/2024 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Joshua Louis Cunningham, age 20, of West Columbia, S.C., on two charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Lexington County Sheriff's Department made the arrest.
Investigators state Cunningham engaged in criminal sexual conduct with a minor and manufactured files of child sexual abuse material.*
Cunningham was arrested on March 21, 2024. He is charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree, 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.
* 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.
