Sumter man arrested, accused of having thousands of child pornographic images on phone
Image: Furman Thames
Courtesy of Sumter Co. Sheriff’s Office
Sexual Exploitation of a Minor 2 nd Degree (20 additional counts) On April 7, 2022, we prepared a press release reporting the arrest of Furman Nelson Thames, of Haynsworth Street who had been charged with Sexual Exploitation of a Minor 2nd Degree (5 counts). At that time, we reported that Thames had uploaded over 150 child pornographic images to his personal cloud account. The investigation into the actions of Thames has been ongoing. Since the initial charges, twenty (20) additional child pornographic images were discovered on his personal cell phone. As part of the investigation, his cell phone was forensically examined and in addition to these 170 images, an additional 280,000 cache images of child pornography were discovered. As a result of these discoveries, 20 additional warrants for sexual exploitation of a minor 2nd degree were obtained and served. Sheriff Dennis added that “This investigation is still ongoing. In fact, a previous investigation where Thames had attempted to destroy his cell phone and discarded in into a landfill is also being revisited. More charges are possible. We take these charges very seriously. To date, no local children have been
Sumter, SC (WOLO) — The Sumter County Sheriff’s Department says they have arrested 41 year old Furman Thames initially charged with 5 counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.
Authorities handed down those charges after they tell us they discovered more than 150 images of child pornography uploaded on to his personal cloud account. The Sheriff’s Office says at one point, Thames attempted to destroy his cell phone and dump it into a landfill, which is currently being revisited.
Since then, Deputies say 20 additional images were discovered on his personal cell phone which led authorities to do a more thorough search. That same phone was then forensically examined by authorities who say they discovered some 280,000 cache images of child pornography. Following their latest find, Deputies added 20 more charges for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.
Sheriff Anthony Dennis says their department takes cases of this nature very seriously and are continuing to investigate. At this time, authorities say none of the children in the images have been identified from this area.
Thames is currently under conditional house arrest.
