An Aiken attorney is accused of setting up a hidden camera in his home and recording a nude female, as well as possession of child pornography, authorities said.
Attorney William Daniel Mayes, 54, was arrested Tuesday on seven felony related to voyeurism and sexual exploitation of minors.
State investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to Mayes. As soon as they searched his five-bedroom home on Town Creek Road on Tuesday and found the child pornography on a personal Dropbox account, they realized videos were made in one of the bedrooms, according to an arrest warrant.
“The defendant has admitted setting up the camera,” a warrant says. “He confirmed he possessed this Dropbox account and he was the sole owner.”
He allegedly set up a camera on a bedroom nightstand and recorded several videos in September that he kept on his Dropbox. One captured a victim walking out of a bathroom attached to the bedroom and removing her pants. Another shows a victim without a shirt, exposing her bare breasts.
On his Dropbox account, officers located at least five videos, showing a girl age 8-10 fully nude, three video showing a girl age 12-14 exposing her breasts, and a final video of a male involved in a sex act with a girl who is believed to be age 12 to 14, warrants say.
Mayes is officially charged with two counts of voyeurism and five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
This week’s arrest was announced by State Attorney General Alan Wilson. The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigators with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office made the arrest. Investigators with the Attorney General’s Office, S.C. Probation, Parole, and Pardon, and Homeland Security Investigations, all also members of the state’s ICAC Task Force, assisted with the investigation.
The sexual exploitation charges are felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison while the voyeurism are misdemeanor offenses punishable by up to 3 years in prison for a first offense on each count. The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.
According to online records, Mayes is a graduate of the University of South Carolina Law School and has been an attorney since 1995. He specialized in social security disability, as well as personal injury, civil rights, workers’ compensation, car accidents, and public benefits.
He has been released on bond and his name did not appear Wednesday on the website of his former firm, Smith, Massey, Brodie, Guynn & Mayes. A LinkedIn page calls him a shareholder at the firm.
A woman at his former law office declined to comment Wednesday afternoon and referred questions to a supervisor, who did not return a voicemail message.
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