Attorney General Alan Wilson has announced that Jonathan Charping, an Upstate man charged with several sex crimes against children, has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 28 years in prison. The sentencing took place in Anderson County under Judge Jessica A. Salvini.
Charping faced multiple charges including one count of Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, First Degree, and one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, First Degree from Orangeburg County. He also faced two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Third Degree from Anderson County.
The case began on May 11th, 2022, when the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip involved the uploading of seven Child Sexual Abuse files to an online account. This led investigators to Charping’s home in Anderson where he was detained. After being read his Miranda rights, Charping admitted that numerous images and videos of Child Sexual Abuse Material would be found on his cell phone. A search confirmed thousands of such files, including a self-created video showing the sexual assault of a two-month-old child.
Metadata from the video indicated Orangeburg County as the location of the assault. Investigator John Stuke with the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office took over the case after determining Charping had stayed in Orangeburg at the time of recording.
Judge Salvini sentenced Charping to serve his term at the South Carolina Department of Corrections with credit for 1,013 days already served. Upon release, he will have to register as a Tier 3 Sex Offender and undergo lifetime GPS monitoring.
Attorney General Wilson highlighted this case as an example of how South Carolina’s Attorney General’s ICAC Task Force collaborates across jurisdictions to protect children statewide. Representatives from both the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office attended court proceedings in support of the victim.
