Beaufort men indicted on charges of trafficking underage girl

Four Beaufort-area men accused of trafficking a minor and distributing child sex abuse material have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Charleston, according to a social media post from the Hardeeville Police Department.

Jaquan Duvall Barnes, 30, of Port Royal, William James Youmans, 35, of Beaufort, Guy Frank Talley, 28, of Beaufort and Alban Bryan, 64, of Saint Helena Island have been charged in the case.

The charges include human trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking of a minor, coercion and enticement, and child sexual abuse material offenses. The alleged abuse occurred between December 2023 and March 2024.

Hardeeville police, with the help of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, launched an investigation into the alleged sex trafficking in March 2024 after patrol officers pulled over Barnes’ vehicle and found an underage girl in his car.

The victim “was a runaway and experiencing drug dependence,” according to the post.

Barnes’ arrest at the time marked the first time this specific sex trafficking charge had been applied in the region, according to a previous Island Packet report. The charge did not exist in state law until 2018, when a rewrite of the sex trafficking statutes added harsher penalties for cases with underage victims.

If convicted, the defendants face a minimum of ten years to life in federal prison along with lifetime supervision. They may also be required to register as sex offenders and pay restitution to the victim.

The case is part Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation across the U.S.

Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, Georgia Highway Patrol and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office also collaborated on the investigation, according to the post.

This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 5:01 PM.