Tega Cay police charged man with drug violations, then found child porn, officials say
A Tega Cay man has been arrested on child pornography charges after police found 250 videos and pictures on his phone during a drug arrest, police said.
Jacob Hunter Harris, 22, is charged with 10 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of minors, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald.
In the videos and pictures, naked children engaged in sex acts, according to the warrants.
Policed charged Harris on Aug. 5 with illegal possession of Xanax and THC, the chemical found in marijuana, according to court records and Steve Parker, Tega Cay Police Department chief. Harris was released on bail Aug. 6, court records show.
When officers seized Harris’ phone during the drug investigation, officers found 242 child pornography videos and eight photos, Parker said in a statement to The Herald.
Officers received a search warrant for the phone and worked with York County Sheriff’s Office cyber crimes detectives on the child porn case, Parker said.
On Monday, Tega Cay officers served Harris with 10 arrest warrants charging him with sexual exploitation of minors in connection to the videos, Parker said.
Third degree sexual exploitation of a minor involves possession of child pornography, South Carolina law shows. A conviction for each offense carries up to 10 years in prison.
Under South Carolina law, sexual exploitation of a minor in the third degree is defined as: “Knowing the character or content of the material, he possesses material that contains a visual representation of a minor engaging in sexual activity or appearing in a state of sexually explicit nudity when a reasonable person would infer the purpose is sexual stimulation.”
The drug and child porn cases all are pending trial, court records show.
Harris was released on $20,000 bond from the York County Detention Center on Tuesday on the sexual exploitation charges, jail officials said.
