Social media videos showed woman committing sex crimes against infant, AG says
By Janice Limon
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COLUMBIA, South Carolina (WYFF) — A South Carolina woman is going to prison for child sex charges after what she did to an infant on videos found through social media, officials said Wednesday.
Attorney General Alan Wilson said Taylor Schiel pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor in Richland County.
Officials said the investigation began on Aug. 20, 2021, after the Texas Department of Public Safety requested information from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, officials said.
Investigators had been working from a cyber tip involving an individual in Texas who had come to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
While working the tip, law enforcement reviewed a cell phone and found a video of the sexual assault of a baby boy located in Blythewood, South Carolina, about 25 miles north of Columbia.
After receiving the Texas case file, SLED Special Investigator Jason Hughes began his investigation.
The investigation revealed that Schiel lived at the home associated with the video.
After “an exhaustive search” of Schiel’s social media accounts, several videos were found showing the sexual assault of a male infant, officials said.
Investigators found many of the videos of the sexual assault of the baby were spliced with videos of Schiel engaging in sexual activity with an adult male.
When investigators searched Schiel’s home on Aug. 25, 2021, she admitted to sexually assaulting the baby, recording the assaults, and sending the videos to the person in Texas, investigators said.
Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. sentenced Schiel to 28 years in prison for both counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
She received credit for 899 days and will have to register as a Tier 2 sex offender upon her release, officials said.
Wilson thanked the investigators “who worked tirelessly to apprehend Ms. Schiel as quickly as possible so that she could not further victimize the child.”
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