Lancaster SC man faces 11 felonies for illegal child sex videos on cellphone, social media
A South Carolina man faces 11 felony charges after police found child sex videos on his cellphone as the man was being arrested Thursday in Lancaster County, according to arrest warrants and law enforcement officials.
Phoenix Magnus-Leevi Crispo, 22, of Kershaw, was arrested by Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputies at his home Thursday, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Herald.
Crispo is charged with one count of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and 10 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, warrants show.
Videos found after search, police say
After an investigation following a tip from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, deputies and federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security obtained a warrant for Crispo’s arrest, according to warrants and a written statement from the S.C. Attorney General’s Office.
The warrant alleged Crispo uploaded and distributed a child sex video on the Instagram social media platform in April.
After a search Thursday at Crispo’s home, law enforcement officers discovered 10 more videos and images on a cell phone, warrants state. Some of those videos were found on the app Snapchat, warrants state.
The children in the illegal material are as young as age 4, warrants allege.
Charges are felonies carry 10 years if convicted
All 11 charges are felonies that carry up to 10 years in prison for each conviction, South Carolina law states.
Crispo remains in the Lancaster County jail after he was denied bail Friday in court, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the sheriff’s office in Lancaster.
It is unclear if Crispo has a lawyer.
Crispo is expected to be prosecuted by the attorney general’s office under the Internet Crimes Against Children task force that combines, federal, state, and local police and prosecutors.
