39-year-old man charged after Port Royal police say he filmed a minor in the shower
A 39-year-old Miami Beach man is facing felony charges in connection with an incident in which he allegedly secretly filmed a teen in the shower while visiting relatives in Port Royal.
The Port Royal Police Department charged Ari Seth Ben-Canaan in late April with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree, one count of voyeurism, and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the third degree, according to Beaufort County court records.
The arrest warrant for Ben-Canaan accuses him of setting up “a spy camera” in the bathroom, which was “pointing directly at the shower curtain where one enters and exits from.” The document states the camera had video clips on it of a minor bathing.
Ben-Canaan was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center on April 27, Beaufort County Detention Center jail logs show. Court documents say he was released two days later after posting a $75,000 bond.
Under South Carolina law, conviction on a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree carries a mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison. The charge is made when a suspect is accused of “sexual battery with a victim who is less than sixteen (16) years of age.”
