Ex-cop on trial for child sex charges worked for 3 York County SC police agencies
A former South Carolina police officer for three York County departments is scheduled for trial Tuesday on child sex charges, court records show.
Charles Eugene “Chuck” Price, 50, faces charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and another sexual charge involving a minor, according to the York County Clerk of Court public online trial docket and lawyers in the case.
Prosecutors said in previous court hearings they have DNA and other evidence against Price.
Price denies the charges
Price’s lawyer, Ben Hasty, said in previous court hearings his client spent his entire working career in law enforcement and disputes all the allegations. Price has pleaded not guilty.
Price has no previous criminal record.
The Herald is not identifying the victim in the cases set for trial.
Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett, York County’s top prosecutor, and assistant solicitor Sharon Ohayon are expected to prosecute the case at trial. Judge Bill McKinnon will preside during the trial at the Moss Justice Center in York.
Brackett and Hasty confirmed the trial is set to start Tuesday but declined comment on the case because it is pending.
Defendant worked at Winthrop University, Fort Mill, and Clover police
Price has been held without bail at the Lancaster County jail since his arrest in 2020.
The York County Sheriff’s Office requested the State Law Enforcement Division investigate the allegations because Price was a local police officer at the time the allegations surfaced in September 2020.
Price was arrested on dozens of charges by SLED in October 2020, SLED statements and warrants show. Other charges against Price remain pending and are not part of the trial, court records show. Price allegedly had sexual contact with a minor that went on when the victim was a child, according to prosecutors and court documents in the case.
Criminal sexual conduct second-degree is defined under South Carolina law as, “A person is guilty of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree if the actor uses aggravated coercion to accomplish sexual battery.”
He was suspended by the Winthrop University police department during the investigation then fired after his arrest, Winthrop officials said in a written statement to The Herald in 2020. None of the allegations happened on campus or while he was performing police duties, Winthrop officials said in the statement.
Price was banned from campus after his arrest, Winthrop officials said.
Before working at Winthrop, where he was a sergeant, Price previously worked at the Fort Mill Police Department and Clover Police Department, according to records and officials at both departments.
