Rock Hill man charged in child sex assault

A Rock Hill man is accused of inappropriately touching a young girl earlier this year.

Edwin Burdell O’Neil, 61, was charged Monday with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, according to Capt. Mark Bollinger, a Rock Hill Police spokesman. He was placed in the Rock Hill city jail, where a judge denied bond.

The incident happened in April at O’Neil’s Rock Hill home, according to a police report. The girl didn’t tell her mother about it until July.

The girl told her mother that O’Neil touched her inappropriately before she went to bed, police said. She drew a picture of what O’Neill allegedly did to her.

“The picture showed a large stick figure laying next to a small stick figure with the larger stick figure’s hands down the smaller one’s pants,” the report states.

The report doesn’t state the girl’s age.

Bollinger explained that investigations involving children typically take longer to conduct than others.

“Depending on the age of the child, these investigations take a long time, and the detectives have to be thorough to make sure the incident really happened,” he said. “We have to do a really good investigation, and sometimes it takes months.”

This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Rock Hill man charged in child sex assault."