SC school resource officer arrested, charged as part of child sex trafficking case

A federal investigation into an Upstate South Carolina child sex trafficking ring has broadened to include more suspects, including an elementary school resource officer in the small town of Westminster.

Initially, five people were arrested and charged last August in connection with child sex trafficking. Since then, three of those suspects have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators, including Shannon Garland, the wife of suspect Gary Garland, a 50-year-old registered sex offender who is believed to be the ringleader.

Gary Garland is charged with multiple counts of sexual exploitation of children and conspiracy to commit human trafficking and remains in Spartanburg County Detention Center.

Further investigation led to the recent arrests of three more people, including John Towery, a former Oconee County sheriff’s deputy who worked as a school resource officer at Fair-Oak Elementary School in Westminster.

Towery was fired from the sheriff’s department in March, just weeks before he was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of children and conspiracy to commit human trafficking.

In total, eight people have been arrested and charged with involvement in a child sex trafficking ring: Michael Skelton, Johnnie Wells, Duwone Allen, Glen Whitcomb, Kianna Dailey, along with Towery and the Garlands.

Towery pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday in federal court in Greenville. He was granted a $25,000 bond and required to wear GPS monitoring and confined to his home.

Towery had worked at the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office since 2012, after previously serving in the Edisto Beach Police Department.

All suspects but the Garlands have been released on bonds of $25,000 with the same requirements as Towery.

The case stems from the arrests last year of the Garlands, who were initially charged with criminal sexual conduct of a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old, according to warrants.

Federal Homeland Security agents say they subsequently found evidence that at least two children were coerced into sex acts and filmed, according to the indictment issued by a Grand Jury on Aug. 20, 2020.

The U.S. Attorney’s office submitted five recordings it says support the charges of child pornography.

The Garlands along with Skelton, Wells and Allen were arrested shortly after the indictment was issued.

Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride told the Anderson Independent Mail last year investigators believe the Garlands gave the teenagers drugs to coerce them into cooperating.

The indictment claims the crimes took place from 2019 until 2020.

When the arrests were announced, then-U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Peter McCoy said, “Child sex trafficking is one of the most offensive and reprehensible crimes possible. Sadly, many of the victims and offenders are hidden in plain sight.”

Besides Homeland Security, the case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Shannon Garland pleaded guilty in January, Skelton in April and Wells last November; they are awaiting sentencing. All three have agreed to cooperate with the investigation, including testifying in any court proceedings and giving authorities the names of victims.

Shannon Garland had faced 10 charges, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy to produce pornography.

Shannon Garland has forfeited her home in rural Belton that was identified as the location where the crimes took place.

Skelton, who violated his probation shortly after he was released by visiting pornographic websites, was allowed to remain free on bond after the court added the conditions of being banned from the internet and turning in his cellphone.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, as did Wells.

Gary Garland was moved to the Spartanburg County Detention Center after writing to the court last September to say he was assaulted by a gang in Anderson City Jail. His wife was also placed in protective custody and moved to Spartanburg at the same time.

Gary Garland claimed news of his arrest was broadcast on a jail television and a “lead gang member” tried to extort him for protection due to his charges. When he refused, two members beat him, he said.

Gary Garland was convicted in 1989 of committing or attempting a lewd act on a child. He served time in Allendale Correctional Institution in Fairfax, where he was found to have fraudulently filed 2001 income tax returns for 10 fictitious people, obtaining slightly more than $3,000 refund on each.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit tax fraud in 2006.