10 men from SC and NC charged in York County and federal Internet child sex case
York County deputies have charged 10 people in a sex investigation targeting suspects from several states who sought underage children over the Internet, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said.
At a news conference Monday, Tolson said the defendants targeted what the defendants believed were underage girls through online apps.
Five of the suspects are from South Carolina, and five are from North Carolina.
One of the suspects from North Carolina is a registered sex offender who early in March was released from federal prison, officials said.
Suspects used social media and apps to communicate online as people the suspects believed were children but were really undercover police, Tolson said.
The investigation went on from March 10 through March 14, Tolson said.
Of the 10 charged, seven suspects went to a Fort Mill location police used as the undercover address. The suspects were arrested there in Fort Mill, Tolson said.
“These men believed they were traveling to a location to have a sexual encounter with a minor,” Tolson said.
The other three suspects were arrested after online activities were found to be criminal, Tolson said.
The suspects
The suspects are from South Carolina and North Carolina. Three of the 10 suspects are from York County, one is from Chester County, and one is from Lancaster County, records show.
Some of the charges involved illegal photos and videos sent over the Internet, officials said.
“These suspects were targeting what they believed were children between the ages of 10 and 17,” Tolson said.
The people facing charges are:
- David Medina Osorio, 34, of Rock Hill, is charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor second-degree, and criminal solicitation of a minor.
- Joseph Scott Varalli, 30, of York, is charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor second degree, and promoting the prostitution of a minor.
- Scott Robert Pless, 52, of Rock Hill, is charged with criminal solicitation of a minor.
- The Chester County suspect is Dennis James Hastings, 60, of Chester, charged with sexual exploitation of a minor first-degree.
- The Lancaster County suspect is Donald Dewaine Dorsey, 42, of Indian Land, charged with criminal sexual conduct second-degree, and criminal solicitation of a minor.
Five suspects are from North Carolina.
- Jose Jesus Garcia-Arellano, 25, of Goldsboro N.C., is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor first-degree, criminal sexual conduct with a minor second-degree, criminal solicitation of a minor, and disseminating obscene material to a minor.
- Keith Alan Grey, 44, of China Grove, N.C., is charged with criminal solicitation of a minor, criminal sexual conduct with a minor first-degree, and sexual exploitation of a minor first-degree.
- Walter Glenn Witherspoon, 41, of Le Grange, N.C., is charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor second-degree, and promoting the prostitution of a minor.
- Nilesh Karthikeya Aleti, 29, of Charlotte, is charged with promoting the prostitution of a minor.
- Michael John Worley, 48, of Canton N.C., is charged criminal sexual conduct with a minor second-degree. Worley is a registered sex offender who finished a federal prison term March 1, said Alex Clark, cyber crimes detective for the sheriff’s office.
“That particular suspect finished a federal term on March 1 and by March 10 was actively seeking a child online,” Clark said at the news conference.
Ongoing enforcement
The sting is the second in 18 months by York deputies working with state and federal police. In November 2019, deputies announced 10 people had been charged in an Internet child sex investigation.
Tolson said the office will periodically continue to coordinate sexual crimes against children investigations.
“Our message today is to make sure that people watch their children’s online activities, because there are people out there who are seeking children,” Tolson said at the news conference.
York County deputies worked with the FBI, Homeland Security investigators, SLED, and other South Carolina police agencies from York, Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Lancaster and other counties, officials said. The investigation is similar to others in South Carolina and around the country that target Internet child predators through the S.C. Attorney General Internet Crime Against Children task force, according to deputies and Homeland Security officials.
This story was originally published April 5, 2021 at 2:07 PM.
