Beaufort man arrested on Child Sexual Abuse Material* charge

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the arrest of Gordon C. Fritz, 82, of Beaufort, S.C., on one charge connected to the sexual exploitation of minors. Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office made the arrest.  Investigators with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and Homeland Security Investigations, both also members of the state's ICAC Task Force, assisted with this investigation.

Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which led them to Fritz. Investigators state Fritz distributed files of child sexual abuse material.

Fritz was arrested on July 9, 2026. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, second degree (§16-15-405), a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment.

The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office.

Attorney General Wilson stressed that all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in a court of law.

* Child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, is a more accurate reflection of the material involved in these heinous and abusive crimes. "Pornography" can imply the child was a consenting participant.  Globally, the term child pornography is being replaced by CSAM for this reason.