Collapse of South Carolina’s Child Porn Prosecutorial Unit

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by WILL FOLKS

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It’s one of the most critical prosecutorial divisions in South Carolina – tasked with protecting the most vulnerable among us from the most horrific of crimes. Unfortunately, its ranks have thinned so severely in recent years, the sector has become a shadow of its former self – leaving behind a shrinking pool of prosecutors who are overloaded, frustrated and increasingly unable to carry out their mission.

The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) section – a unit of S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson‘s office – bills itself as battling against “the proliferation of child sexual abuse material” and the “heightened activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with under-aged victims.”

The section “handles cases involving crimes against children facilitated through the use of technology, including the possession and distribution of child pornography, and criminal solicitation of a minor,” according to Wilson’s website.

ICAC is supposed to house nine full-time attorneys and an equal number of support staff and investigators. Due to years of attrition and a flood of recent departures, however, it will be staffed by just two attorneys and three staff members by the end of the calendar year.

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Given that ICAC is responsible for prosecuting more than 700 active cases, that equates to roughly 350 cases per prosecutor – more than ten times the typical case load for an attorney in Wilson’s office. Oh, and as anyone who has followed the harrowing, gut-wrenching details of several high-profile child sex abuse materials (i.e. child porn) cases can attest, these are anything but typical prosecutions.

ICAC prosecutors have jobs which are definitionally traumatizing – yet the people charged with absorbing that trauma are being left high and dry, to hear our sources tell it. In fact, ICAC is at a point that – if it loses anymore people – the section won’t be able to take any more cases from local solicitors.

Multiple sources familiar with the situation say several of the attorneys who left the unit in recent months would have stayed if the attorney general’s office could have come up with just a percentage – say, a quarter or a third – of the higher salaries they were offered elsewhere.

“This isn’t about greed,” a source familiar with the plight of the unit told FITSNews. “It’s about getting by.”

“They’ve lost great people (who) want to be there,” another source aware of the situation told us. “People want to stay but they can’t afford it.”

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Another source familiar with the situation told us at least three of the recent departures “gladly would’ve stayed and continued to make less money” if the attorney general’s office had “just come up with a percentage” of the difference between their current salaries and the compensation they were being offered.

“They are just trying to keep their heads above water,” the source said.

“They have outrageous case volumes and are paid under market,” another source familiar with the situation confirmed. “The stress of the volume drives good people away and no one wants to invest. Plus, they deal with the most horrible content on a daily basis.”

Previous efforts to raise salaries for ICAC prosecutors received initial approval, but were subsequently “nixed from above.”

In the aftermath of that decision, at least three prosecutors have taken (or agreed to take) jobs elsewhere. These departures come at a time when the office was already understaffed and underfunded, sources say. Meanwhile, prosecutors who want to join the unit – and would be willing to work there for significantly less money than they are being offered elsewhere – are unable to accept the lowball offers coming from the attorney general’s office.

“They can’t get people to apply for the jobs and when they do they can’t get the money to be competitive,” a source familiar with the situation said.

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Wilson’s office pushed back at the criticism of its ICAC hiring and recruitment efforts.

“Protecting children is one of attorney general Wilson’s and his office’s top priorities,” Wilson spokesman Robert Kittle told FITSNews. “The attorney general requested funds last year to increase the salaries of these positions and to provide retention bonuses, but those funds were unfortunately not appropriated by the General Assembly. These employees also have faced increased public attacks over the last few years by those who don’t understand their role in the judicial process, and that hostility has also damaged interest in the roles.”

“The material the members of the ICAC task force must view each day exposes them to the worst in society and is very mentally and emotionally taxing,” Kittle added. “Attorney general Wilson has said he believes this section deserves ‘combat pay’ for what they go through to protect children and deliver justice. We hope the General Assembly will hear the requests for more funding and encourage more people to apply.”

According to Kittle, Wilson’s office is “continuing (its) efforts to recruit employees and compete against the private sector and higher paying offers in solicitors’ offices,” He also cited a federal grant the office recently secured to “offer counseling for victims and ICAC employees alike.”

“The fight to protect children is a never-ending one, and we need an all- hands-on-deck approach,” Kittle concluded.

Sources close to the attorney general’s office added ICAC jobs are notoriously difficult to staff and a lot of attorneys “think it’s work they want to do until they see what’s involved.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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