PRESS RELEASE
September 1, 2016
FCSO INVESTIGATOR PLAYS CRITICAL ROLE IN CHILD PORN PROSECUTION
Christian Philip Hine pleaded guilty on August 22, 2016 to one (1) count of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Second Degree, and nine counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Third Degree in York County General Sessions Court before Judge Brian M. Gibbons. In March of 2015, Florence County Sheriff’s Office Investigator William Hester, who is assigned to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, posing as a customer on the Internet was sent files of child pornography from Hine on a file sharing network. In conjunction with the York County Sheriff’s Office, a search warrant was executed on Hine’s residence where several computer items were seized. Special Agents with SLED were also involved. A computer forensic examination revealed over 700 sexually explicit files of children. The search revealed that these types of files had been distributed thousands of times over a ten year period.
Hine was sentenced to 10 years in prison suspended upon 2 years active time to be followed by 3 years of probation. On the Third Degree charges, Hine was sentenced to 2 years active time to run concurrently with the Second Degree sentence. He also consented to the forfeiture of seized items and will be required to register a sex offender upon his release.
“The internet is a necessary and indispensible tool for everyone these days, but it can also be a very dangerous place for children,” Sheriff Kenney Boone stated. “We are proud to be involved in the important work of protecting our children from internet exploitation.”
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Major Michael M. Nunn
General Counsel/P.I.O.
