Attorney general’s office arrests WACH-TV reporter on three sexual exploitation charges…

A South Carolina sports reporter has been arrested and charged with three counts of sexually exploiting a minor, according to a news release from the office of the Palmetto State’s top prosecutor.

According to S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson, 28-year-old Matthew Turner Vereen – who covers sports for WACH TV-57 (FOX – Columbia, S.C.) – was arrested this week by agents of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force with support from the Columbia, S.C. police department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) special investigations unit (HSI).

“Investigators state Vereen distributed and possessed files of child sexual abuse material,” Wilson’s office noted in its release.

Child sex abuse materials (or “CSAM”) is another term for child pornography. According to ICAC, the term is “a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes.”

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Per Wilson’s release, Vereen was charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the second degree (§16-15-405) – a felony offense punishable by up to ten years imprisonment on each count – and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor in the third degree (§16-15-410), a felony offense punishable by up to ten years imprisonment.

As with anyone accused of committing any crime, Vereen is considered innocent until proven guilty by our criminal justice system – or until such time as he may wish to enter some form of allocution in connection with a plea agreement with prosecutors related to any of the charges filed against him.

Vereen’s WACH Fox bio indicates he grew up in Greenville, S.C., where he played soccer throughout high school prior to attending the University of Missouri journalism school. A former ESPN intern, Vereen previously reported at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri and anchored at KOLR-TV in Springfield, Missouri.

Vereen’s bio also described him as a “supporter of local charities that help impoverished kids into sports.”

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Vereen’s case will be prosecuted by the attorney general’s office.

This is a developing story…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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