State Board of Education suspends former Beaufort Co. teacher’s license, records show
A former Beaufort County teacher who is charged with uploading child sex abuse imagery online has had his teaching license suspended.
Timothy Sheaffer, 32, of Bluffton, was charged Feb. 18 with second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after police say he uploaded a sexually explicit video of a minor to the internet. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported Sheaffer to the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which tipped off the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
The state Board of Education suspended his license on March 2.
As of Thursday, the investigation is ongoing Maj. Bob Bromage from the Sheriff’s Office said. The ICAC forensic examinations of the electronic devices taken from his home may lead to further charges, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office alert.
Sheaffer worked as a teacher at Bridges Preparatory School, a public charter school in Beaufort, starting in 2015. The school’s chief executive officer said Sheaffer had not worked at the school since at least 2019.
Second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor is a felony in South Carolina and carries a penalty of at least two years in prison, but not more than 10, per the S.C. Code of Laws.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, help can be reached at the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (800) 656-4673 or by calling Hopeful Horizons at (843)770-1070. Additional help can be found by visiting the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network site.
