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South Carolina official wants Web predator law AIKEN - South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is pushing for a new law to protect children from predators in cyberspace, an increasing concern among law enforcement officials in the computer age. Mr. McMaster will testify today before the House Judiciary Criminal Laws subcommittee on House Bill 4451, the child abduction and predator law. Unlike Georgia, South Carolina has never had a law specifically addressing the solicitation or enticement of minors for unlawful acts, Mr. McMaster said Tuesday. Such acts of enticement appear to be on the rise with the anonymity the Internet provides sexual predators, who roam chat rooms and often pose as children themselves, he said. "It's happening more frequently across the country, and children are ending up dead or sexually assaulted," Mr. McMaster said. "It's clear that we need this law." Up to this point, Mr. McMaster said, state law enforcement agencies have often relied on federal agencies already burdened with homeland security concerns to prosecute Internet-related cases involving children. In Aiken County, a sheriff's investigator surfing the Internet for predators has had "some success" in luring people into arranged meetings, according to Lt. Barney Eagerton. "We've actually made some arrests that involved crossing over state lines," Lt. Eagerton said. Mr. McMaster said cases involving "attempted criminal sexual conduct," the only state statute currently covering enticement, are difficult to prove in court. "This (legislation would) create a new crime," he said. "It is very broad and covers any sort of unlawful solicitation or enticement." The legislation would also grant jurisdiction to the state grand jury to investigate such cases. Noting the state grand jury's broad powers of subpoena, he said, "many times that's the only way you can investigate cases like this." Mr. McMaster expects the proposal, sponsored by Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, to sail through the Legislature. Reach Stephen Gurr at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or stephen.gurr@augustachronicle.com.
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