2 child sex trafficking suspects from Beaufort Co. granted bond. Will they be released?
Two men accused of involvement in a Beaufort County child sex trafficking ring have been granted bond by South Carolina judges, although neither suspect had forked over the thousands required to be released from jail as of Friday morning.
The case is a massive collaborative effort between the federal Homeland Security Investigations and several local law enforcement agencies, including the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office and the city police departments of Beaufort and Hardeeville. It will be prosecuted by Hunter Swanson, who leads the Special Victims Unit at the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
St. Helena Island resident Alban Bryan, 63, received two $50,000 surety bonds for his charges of child trafficking and contributing to the delinquency of a minor on Tuesday. If released, he will be confined to house arrest and required to wear an ankle monitor, although he could leave home for work as well as medical, religious or legal reasons. He would also be barred from contacting minors or any victims in the case, according to conditions set by Judge G.D. Morgan Jr.
For Okatie resident Guy Frank Talley III, 27, Morgan on Tuesday issued surety bonds also equaling $100,000 total: $40,000 for child trafficking and $30,000 each for two charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Conditions attached to the trafficking bond include house arrest, a ban from contacting victims and a requirement to cover his ankle monitoring fees. He may serve his house arrest with his parents in Beaufort or with his children and fiancee in Bluffton, the judge ruled.
Talley was also given a $10,000 surety bond by Magistrate Judge Nancy Sadler for harboring an escaped convict, a charge applied July 19 while he was already in jail. He was accused of helping to hide a fellow sex trafficking suspect, 29-year-old Jaquan Duvall Barnes, after the Port Royal man escaped from the Jasper County jail in early June. Two of Barnes’ sisters were arrested for the same charge on July 18.
Surety bonds allow for suspects to be released from jail after paying bondsmen a portion of their bail, typically 10% of the total amount.
What about the other suspects?
Three other defendants accused of sex trafficking of a minor — 50-year-old Beaufort man Terrance Lamar Fields, 34-year-old Beaufort man William James Youmans and Barnes — had not been granted bond as of Friday morning, judicial records show. Barnes and Youmans remained in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center, while Fields was being held at the Jasper County jail.
Two final suspects who are not charged with sex trafficking were released from jail in the week following the string of arrests in early to mid-June: Samuel Cyrus Blackmon, 36, of St. Helena, received a personal recognizance bond June 12 and Ilaife Sylvia Meredith, 20, of Beaufort, posted a $10,000 surety bond for contributing to the delinquency of a minor on June 17.
Blackmon was arrested for possession of marijuana as part of the same group and was named by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in a media release about the alleged sex trafficking operation, although it was unclear how he was linked to the investigation at large.
Hardeeville Chief of Police Sam Woodward said Meredith allegedly helped to transport some of the underage victims from Beaufort to Hardeeville and “gave them a place to stay.”
Few details about the alleged trafficking ring have been publicly released, although arrest warrants from SLED indicate the trafficking exchanges took place in at least three homes in northern Beaufort County.
This story was originally published July 26, 2024 at 11:39 AM.
