York County SC man sent, saved child sex videos on Snapchat, sheriff says
A York County, S.C., man has been charged with sharing and possessing child sex videos on Snapchat, according to sheriff’s and court records.
Andrew Lengshia Thao, 23, of York, was arrested by York County Sheriff’s Office deputies Monday and charged with one count of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, and five counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, court and jail records show.
Thao is accused of sharing a video on the Snapchat social media site that depicts a child involved in a sexual act, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald. Snapchat is an online instant message application.
He also is charged with possession of five other child sex videos that were saved onto Snapchat, warrants allege.
An investigation began after a tip to authorities from The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.
Charges are felonies under South Carolina law
Second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor is defined under South Carolina law 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.”
Third-degree sexual exploitation is defined as possession of illegal material involving child sexual activity, state law shows.
The charges are felonies that carry a potential punishment up to 10 years in prison for each offense, South Carolina law states.
The case is expected to be prosecuted by the S.C. Attorney General’s Office as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force project made up of federal, state and local police and prosecutors.
It is unclear from court records if Thao has a lawyer.
Thao’s bail was set at $30,000 Monday after an initial court hearing in front of a York County magistrate judge, records show.
