Mount Pleasant man charged in connection to sexual exploitation of a minor

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office says a Mount Pleasant man has been arrested in connection with sexual exploitation of a minor.

Lucas Robert Stokes, 39, was arrested on Thursday by Charleston County deputies and charged with second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, an affidavit states.

They say on May 5, SC Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force detectives received a cyber-tip regarding the sexual exploitation of a minor.

On Oct. 2, 2022, a social media user had transmitted an explicit photo of a child who was approximately 1 to 3-years-old, an affidavit states.

The image was transmitted from a social media account that was created with a Gmail address and the username associated with it was “Lucas Stockel”, the sheriff’s office says.

They say the Gmail address had a recovery phone number associated with it and was registered to Stokes where he also used that phone number to apply for a United States passport.

The address associated with the phone number is an address Stokes was previously associating with, an affidavit states.

They say Stokes’ passport application listed the current address that he has on his South Carolina DMV record.

The Gmail address associated with the reported photo was obtained from Stokes’ place of employment on both March 22 and April 17, an affidavit states.

Stokes was being held at the Charleston County Jail on $50,000 bond.

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