‘Betrayed his badge’: Ex-Rock Hill cop sentenced to over 21 years in child porn case
A former Rock Hill police officer convicted by a South Carolina jury of receiving and distributing child sexual abuse materials will spend more than 21 years in federal prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph F. Anderson sentenced Daniel Paul Shealy, 36, to 262 months prison Monday during a hearing in federal court in Columbia.
In a trial in May, jurors convicted Shealy — who maintains he’s innocent — on all 18 counts he faced for receiving and distributing videos of children as young as age 3 involved in sex acts.
Shealy had more than 120 videos on his phone when arrested by York County Sheriff’s Office deputy Alex Clark and Bob Hamilton, an FBI agent who works with the sheriff’s office in September 2023. He was fired by the police department.
Anderson called the videos “very disturbing.” He said the videos of these children will forever be in the public domain online after Shealy got the videos then forwarded them to others.
Of graphic details talked about in court regarding one video involving the abuse of a young child while another is forced to watch, Anderson said, “That’s just about as bad as it gets, isn’t it?”
Federal sentencing guidelines in the case were from 21 to about 27 years.
Shealy said nothing in court Monday about his conviction or sentence after testifying in his trial that he was active in adult pornography but did not know he had been sent child materials online. His lawyer, federal public defender Suha Najjer, told Judge Anderson, “Mr. Shealy still does maintain his innocence.”
Prosecutor: Shealy didn’t protect child victims
Assistant U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Elliott Daniels asked a sentence of at least the 21-plus years after Shealy “betrayed his badge.”
The videos contained child rapes and violence, Daniels said, adding that the content of the videos “couldn’t be worse.”
Daniels called Shealy’s actions a “breach of trust” against the public he was sworn to serve during 12 years as a police officer. Shealy received the child videos then instead of reporting it, forwarded them to others, Daniels said.
Shealy had been a patrol officer and school resource officer before being promoted to detective just weeks before he was arrested after a tip to a child abuse hotline.
“He never lifted a finger to help them,” Daniels said of the child victims. “He didn’t protect these kids.”
Prosecutor Elle Klein said Shealy lied under oath on the witness stand during the trial when he said he did not distribute child pornography. Computer evidence showed he did, Klein said.
Shealy’s lawyer: He was “exiled” after arrest, deserves less time
Najjar, Shealy’s lawyer, asked Judge Anderson for a 10-year sentence that was less than half of what federal guidelines are for the crimes. She said federal sentencing guidelines are “absurd” and are made for those who make and produce child sex abuse materials.
She cited Shealy’s exemplary 12-year police record in Rock Hill where he worked at South Pointe High School as a resource officer without complaint. She also said that fellow police officers have “exiled” Shealy from the police community and Shealy’s face was “plastered all over the Internet” after his arrest.
Court filings earlier in the case show the crimes did not happen while Shealy was at work.
“A mistake should not erase a lifetime of service,” Najjar argued.
Daniels, the prosecutor, retorted that Shealy still claims that he did nothing wrong — despite the evidence and jury verdict.
“Mr. Shealy lets on that he’s the victim, but he’s not,” Daniels said. “The children are.”
What happens now?
Statements in court from the lawyers and judge Monday indicate Shealy will appeal the conviction and sentence.
Shealy has been in jail since being convicted in May. There is no parole in the federal system, so he has to serve the full 262 months prison time. After that, he has 20 years of federal supervised release, which is similar to probation.
The Rock Hill Police Department has more than 200 sworn and civilian staff for a city of around 76,000 people. The Herald asked the city of Rock Hill and the police department for comment Monday after the sentencing but the city and police have not yet responded.
This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 5:59 PM.
