COLUMBIA -- Attorney General Henry McMaster announced Tuesday that Wade Joe Brumett, 43, of 138 Geneva Drive in Darlington, was arrested on May 13, 2008, in an undercover Internet sting conducted by the Sumter County Sheriff's Office.
The Sumter County Sheriff's Office is a member of the Attorney General's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
Brumett was arrested on four (4) counts of Criminal Solicitation of a Minor (§16-15-342), a felony offense punishable to ten (10) years imprisonment on each count.
Arrest warrants allege that beginning on April 21, 2008, Brumett solicited sex on the Internet from an individual he believed to be a twelve (12) year old girl. In reality, he was communicating with an undercover Sumter County Sheriff's Deputy.
The Darlington County Sheriff's Office assisted in the arrest and execution of a search warrant that resulted in the seizure of two (2) laptop computers. The computers will be subject to forensic examination by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Brumett was assigned a $50,000 bond.
This is the one hundred twenty-fourth (124th) arrest for the Task Force.
The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.
McMaster stressed that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.