GA man pulled over in Bluffton traffic stop was wanted in child sex crimes case
A man pulled over for defective brake lights in Bluffton was arrested after police learned he had failed to appear in court for a child molestation charge in Georgia, officials said.
Jessie Willie Faulkenberry Jr., 53, of Warrenville, South Carolina, was booked into the Beaufort County jail May 8 and transferred to custody in Columbia County, Georgia, five days later.
Faulkenberry was pulled over around 6 p.m. on May 8 by an officer near the intersection of U.S. 278 (Fording Island Road) and Simmonsville Road, according to a Bluffton Police Department incident report.
The officer informed Faulkenberry his brake lights weren’t working and that his vehicle decal was expired, the report says. Shortly after, dispatchers told the officer Faulkenberry was wanted in Georgia for failing to appear in court, the officer noted, and the man was asked to step out of his vehicle.
Faulkenberry had a cast on his left foot and was limping, the police report says. He allegedly told the officer he had surgery eight weeks earlier and showed police his chest incisions. As a result, police handcuffed his hands in the front — rather than the back — before he was driven to the county jail, according to the report.
Molestation case opened nearly 5 years ago
Georgia judicial records show Faulkenberry was charged with child molestation in November 2021. Court officials motioned to forfeit his bond in June 2024 after he failed to appear for a proceeding, the records show.
In Georgia, child molestation is a felony that encompasses any “immoral or indecent act” done to a child under 16 years old, or the act of digitally sending indecent material to a child under 16 years old. A first-time conviction under the offense is punishable by five to 20 years in prison.
Additional information about Faulkenberry’s child molestation charge was not immediately available via online court records. The case remained pending in Columbia County Superior Court as of Wednesday.
Public records show Faulkenberry had previous addresses in South Carolina’s Lancaster, Kershaw and Darlington counties in addition to his hometown in Aiken County listed in his May 8 booking record.
