• A Simpsonville woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexually abusing her three-year-old daughter.
• An inmate already serving a 30-year sentence received an additional 40 years for his role in the abuse.
• The case was discovered during a state-wide crackdown on contraband cellphones in prisons.
• Prosecutors described the case as “evil” and one of the worst they have ever prosecuted.

A Simpsonville woman was sentenced to four decades in prison for what prosecutors called one of the most evil things a mother could do to a child.

Circuit Court Judge Patrick Fant III sentenced 26-year-old Abbygale El-Dier to 40 years.

Her boyfriend, Jacob Lance, 29, who was already serving a 30-year term for a 2015 Anderson County manslaughter case, was sentenced to 40 additional years for accessory to criminal sexual misconduct with a minor.

The case came to light after South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson launched a crackdown on contraband in state prisons. Jail staff discovered that El-Dier had sent Lance dozens of videos and photos showing her sexually abusing her three-year-old daughter. The three-year-old isn’t related to Lance.

Cortney Rea, assistant solicitor with the 13th Circuit, called it the worst case she has ever prosecuted, citing the severe trauma suffered by the toddler.

“I have tried to put this into words, but how vile these acts are, words fall short. Inhuman, disgusting, horrific, but what the defendant really did to her child is just evil,” Rea said. “Everyone who has touched this case has been negatively affected by their perversion. What this defendant (El-Dier) did to this child is incomprehensible.”

El-Dier also received a five-year prison sentence for first-degree sexual exploitation. Lance was also sentenced to three years for sexual exploitation of a minor. The three-year sentence will run concurrently with his previous sentence.

According to prosecutors, El-Dier and Lance messaged each other from August 2022 to August 2023, where the two talked about abusing the child. The pair also spoke about the idea of Lance abusing the child, along with drugging them and other children. Law enforcement became aware of the pair’s conversations after someone tipped the Simpsonville Police Department about the messages.

After the tip, law enforcement arrested El-Dier, and agents from the Attorney General’s Office obtained Lance’s phone.

El-Dier pled guilty in July, and Lance pled guilty in November.

‘Suffered abuse’

In March 2018, both Jacob and his brother, Ernest Lance, were found guilty of beating Todd Cantlay to death before setting his Pendleton home on fire. Jacob Lance is serving his 30-year prison sentence at the Lee County Correctional Facility in Bishopville.

El-Dier’s attorney, Greenville-based Will Hellams, and her family accused Lance of manipulating and psychologically abusing her.

“We will always regret not catching on to how truly severe the situation was every day for the rest of our lives. We are so disappointed that our granddaughter will have to grow up knowing about these horrific events. The therapy she will have to go through will never be enough,” the victim’s advocate said in the hearing.

Lance told Judge Fant a different story during the hearing, in which he claimed El-Dier initiated the dialogue about the abuse and that he felt blackmailed to continue the conversations. He said if he didn’t, she would cut off communication and potentially alert the Department of Corrections about his contraband cellphones.

“I felt forced to go along with it because I didn’t want her calling a search team and turning it all around on me to make it seem like I’m some creep,” Lance said.

Contraband crackdown by AG’s Office

This case, along with several others, is part of an initiative by the Attorney General’s Office to punish the possession of contraband cellphones.

The State Grand Jury investigated and indicted each case in the initiative.

El-Dier’s family said they reported Lance to the South Carolina Department of Corrections multiple times, but he would have several phones at a time and would switch between them to gain access to El-Dier.

David Fernandez, assistant deputy for the Attorney General’s Office, said the detailed conversations between El-Dier and Lance about the daughter’s abuse were only the tip of the iceberg in comparison to the things El-Dier did to her own daughter.

“What has been provided today, your honor, is simply a snippet of the luminous conversation between the two. These were no fantasies; these were actions that were acted out in real time by El-Dier for the benefit of Jacob Lance,” Assistant Deputy Attorney General David Fernandez said during the hearing.