Beaufort Co. firefighter accused of soliciting teen arrested after 12 days in Georgia
A former Burton Fire District firefighter was arrested in Georgia on Thursday afternoon after police accused him of soliciting a 13-year-old girl for sex, according to an official.
Brandon Thomsen, 46, of Beaufort was released from a medical facility in Brunswick, Ga., and arrested around 4 p.m., according to Beaufort Police Department Capt. George Erdel.
He is being held in the Lowndes County Jail, said Erdel.
Beaufort Police obtained two warrants on Dec. 2 to charge Thomsen with one count of criminal solicitation of a minor and one count of disseminating obscene material to a person under 18.
Because he is being held in Georgia, Thomsen won’t be charged until he is taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center.
Thomsen’s attorney has said his client will accept extradition to Beaufort County when Thomsen goes to a bond hearing in Georgia on Friday afternoon, according to Erdel.
On Nov. 29, a woman reported to Beaufort Police that Thomsen, who was a family friend, was soliciting her 13-year-old daughter via Snapchat.
According to a police report, investigators found messages from Thomsen, which included explicit song lyrics to the song “WAP” by rapper Cardi B, that asked the teen not to tell anyone about their conversation.
On Wednesday, an official with the Burton Fire District said Thomsen is “no longer employed” at the agency, but he declined to say he was fired.
Thomsen is also known because of the part he played in arresting Trey Pringle, a 24-year-old Seabrook man who died in 2018 after an encounter with police.
