Rock Hill man rejected 25 years in prison for child sex. He got 46 in guilty plea
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A Rock Hill man who rejected a plea deal for a 25-year sentence has been sentenced to 46 years in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to sex crimes against a child that included videos, according to prosecutors and court records.
Jeremy Allen Lewis, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday in York County criminal court to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and seven counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, said Robert Kittle, spokesman for the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted the case.
The Herald does not identify child victims of sex crimes.
Visiting Judge Keith Kelly sentenced Lewis Thursday to 46 years total — 25 years for the two criminal sexual conduct convictions, and 21 years for the seven sexual exploitation charges.
On Nov. 17, The Herald was in court when Lewis told Judge Kelly “I reject the offer” of 25 years for a guilty plea that had been negotiated by prosecutors and his lawyer from the 16th Circuit Public Defender’s Office. Kelly then told Lewis that the 25-year offer was void. He was then returned to jail pending court before Thursday’s guilty pleas.
He pleaded guilty Thursday before a scheduled trial could begin. Lewis pleaded guilty in what is called an Alford plea, according to the public defender’s office. In an Alford plea a defendant does not have to admit guilt, yet acknowledges there is a substantial likelihood he would be convicted if there was a trial.
Lewis had been in the York County jail since April 2021 when he was arrested by York County Sheriff’s Office deputies on allegations related to the sex crimes and videos. He gets credit for 1,710 days of time served in jail before pleading guilty.
