NC man turns himself in to Beaufort Police for child sex crimes, held on $25,000 bond
A North Carolina man turned himself in to Beaufort police on a pair of felony child sex crime charges Tuesday morning, according to the Beaufort Police Department.
John Patrick Walker, 37, of Wallace, N.C., was charged with first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor, jail records show.
Police have accused Walker of sending explicit messages to two people he believed to be underage through a social media app during the first week of March, according to Deputy Chief Stephenie Price, a spokesperson for the Beaufort Police Department. Similar to other arrests made through the department’s Operation Rock the Boat, the accounts didn’t belong to children — they were investigators searching for child predators online.
Walker turned himself him at the Beaufort Police Department after his New York probation officer advised him about his outstanding South Carolina warrants, Price said.
Price would not clarify whether Walker lives in Beaufort, but a search of Beaufort County’s tax records revealed no properties registered to his name.
Under South Carolina law, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor is a felony with a minimum three years of prison time, stretching as far as 20 years maximum. Criminal solicitation of a minor, also a felony, could earn Walker a $5,000 fine or up to 10 years in prison.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Walker was in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center on a $25,000 surety bond.
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The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:
In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested
In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety
In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims
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