CHARLESTON, S.C. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - South Carolina), published as received.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A Lowcountry firefighter accused of the sexual exploitation of a child has been arraigned in federal court. A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment against John Lewis Cottrell III, 46, of Johns Island, for sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child sexual abuse material.

According to the unsealed complaint affidavit, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Cottrell’s residence on Oct. 3. During the execution of that warrant, law enforcement located child sexual abuse material as well as hidden cameras that had been used to create child sexual abuse material of minor victims.

Cottrell faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Gordon Baker on Dec. 30 and remains detained at this time.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the South Carolina Attorney General Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Charleston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katie Orville is prosecuting the case. 

All charges in the indictment are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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* The term “child pornography” is currently used in federal statutes and is defined as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a person less than 18 years old. While this phrase still appears in federal law, “child sexual abuse material” is preferred, as it better reflects the abuse that is depicted in the images and videos and the resulting trauma to the child. The Associated Press Stylebook also discourages the use of the phrase “child pornography.”