Rock Hill man on bail charged with sending Snapchat child sex pics, video, records show
A South Carolina man, who had been free on bail from a November arrest connected to charges of sending sexually explicit videos of children over social media, was charged again Tuesday with allegedly sending more pictures and a video containing children, according to officials, court records, and arrest warrants.
Barry Colin Welch, 43, of Rock Hill, was served the new arrest warrants Tuesday at the York County Sheriff’s Office, according to deputies and York County court records.
Welch was charged Tuesday with three counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald.
The warrants state Welch used the Snapchat social media app to share and distribute sexually explicit pictures and a video of partially nude juvenile girls.
In November, Welch was arrested and charged with three other counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after allegedly sending videos through the KIK social media app in 2020 that showed female children in explicit acts, arrest warrants served in November show.
Welch was released on $15,000 bond after the November arrest, York County court records show. Those November charges remain pending and no trial date has been set, court records show.
Welch remained at the York County jail Tuesday pending an initial court hearing on the new charges, sheriff’s office and York County court records show.
South Carolina law defines second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor as someone who “distributes, transports, exhibits, receives, sells, purchases, exchanges, or solicits material that contains a visual representation of a minor engaged in sexual activity or appearing in a state of sexually explicit nudity when a reasonable person would infer the purpose is sexual stimulation.”
A conviction for second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor carries a punishment of two to 10 years in prison, per charge, state law shows.
The arrests are part of the S.C. Attorney General’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children task force, officials said. The task force includes dozens of South Carolina law enforcement agencies, including sheriff’s offices in York and Lancaster counties.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 4:55 PM.
