3 Beaufort County men arrested in sting targeting sex crimes against children

The Beaufort County Police Department on Friday announced that three local men were arrested for attempting to seek out underage children for sex.

They and six others from out of state were arrested as part of “Operation Rock The Boat,” a multi-agency effort to target internet crimes against minors.

Arrested were Zachary Chappo, 36, of Bluffton; Micheal Ford, 51, of Bluffton, and Micheal Mahaney, 59 from Yemassee. They face charges ranging from criminal solicitation, attempted domestic violence of a person under 18 and attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Operation Rock The Boat was a joint operation between the Beaufort Police Department, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and the S.C. Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The weeklong undercover operation saw members of the task force communicate with the suspects online, leading four individuals to travel to Beaufort to have sex with who they believed to be between the ages of 12 and 14.

“I personally believe that there’s a special place in hell for anybody that abuses children,” Beaufort Chief of Police Dale McDorman said.

A total of 14 suspects have been identified with nine being arrested and five currently wanted for their involvement on charges ranging from criminal solicitation of a minor, disseminating obscene materials to persons under 18, second-degree exploitation of minors, and attempted promoting prostitution of a minor.

Five of the suspects were from out of state, coming from Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, authorities said.

And it doesn’t matter what community you’re in, how much money you make, how affluent you are,” said Kevin Atkins, the chief criminal investigator for ICAC task force. “We’ll go anywhere, anytime, anyplace in the state to combat this problem.”

Along with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, various other police departments and sheriff’s offices from across the state helped with this operation. Federal agencies like the FBI also were involved.

McDorman implored parents to stay vigilant with their children.

“Pay attention to what your kids are doing online,” said McDorman. “I think where we fail, we give all of our children a little miniature computer and we don’t monitor what they do with it.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 1:44 PM.