A Bluffton man was arrested Friday evening for uploading child sexual abuse imagery to the internet from his home computer, according to a news release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Howard Earl Shappee, 54, was charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the second degree.
The Sheriff’s Office obtained a search warrant for his home on Hidden Lakes Lane in Bluffton on Friday and confiscated the computers and electronic devices in his home, according to the news release.
Shappee was transported and booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center on Friday afternoon. He has not yet received a bond hearing for the four charges and remains incarcerated.
Forensic examinations of the seized computers, mobile telephones and electronic storage devices from Shappee’s Hidden Lakes home will be performed by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and may lead to additional criminal charges for him, the news release said.
Anyone who has information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact Sergeant Seth Reynells at 843-255-3709 or Crimestoppers of the Lowcountry at 843-554-1111.
When we publish mugshots
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:
In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested
In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety
In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims
Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that don’t meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
Katherine Kokal graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and joined The Island Packet newsroom in 2018. Before moving to the Lowcountry, she worked as an interviewer and translator at a nonprofit in Barcelona and at two NPR member stations. At The Island Packet, Katherine covers Hilton Head Island’s government, environment, development, beaches and the all-important Loggerhead Sea Turtle. She has earned South Carolina Press Association Awards for in-depth reporting, government beat reporting, business beat reporting, growth and development reporting, food writing and for her use of social media.
