Lawyer says 15 years may be ‘life sentence’ for convicted Rock Hill child molester

Despite getting a 15-year sentence for molesting two boys, Alan Brian Bolin’s lawyer called it a “life sentence.”

Bolin, a 55-year-old Rock Hill man, has severe health problems.

Bolin pleaded guilty Monday to the sexual assaults of the boys, ages 9 and 10, at a Rock Hill home in the summer of 2015. Bolin initially told police he was so drunk he did not remember what happened after the boys told their parents about the assaults, said Sharon Kopp, the 16th Circuit assistant solicitor who prosecuted the case.

However, DNA samples from Bolin matched evidence taken from both victims, Kopp said.

Bolin agreed to plead guilty under a negotiated plea deal for 15 years in prison, although he faced as much as 35 years for both charges. Still, there is a chance that, if Bolin does finish the full term, he may never get out of prison.

Because of the seriousness of the charges, if Bolin is ever released, he would have to register as a sex offender and wear an electronic monitor.

Yet state prosecutors with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office could seek to keep Bolin incarcerated even after his 15-year sentence by using a civil law called the sexually violent predator act, which attempts to identify and keep defendants after prison who can’t control themselves and are deemed a threat to society.

Bolin declined to comment on the assaults, saying in court, “I have nothing to say.”

Bolin’s lawyer, 16th Circuit Assistant Public Defender Phil Smith, said Bolin was remorseful for what happened, and that he never used being drunk as an excuse, but as an explanation for what happened.

Bolin suffers from cardiopulmonary disease, hepatitis, cancer and cirrhosis, among other ailments, Smith said, and was recently hospitalized. Given Bolin’s frail health, Smith said the likelihood that Bolin will survive prison is slim.

“The 15 years for Mr. Bolin is in effect a life sentence,” Smith said.

Family members of the victims were in court but did not speak.

This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Lawyer says 15 years may be ‘life sentence’ for convicted Rock Hill child molester."