Judge charged with sex crimes for explicit photos of minor on phone, SLED says
By Janice Limon
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LANCASTER COUNTY, South Carolina (WYFF) — A South Carolina judge, who had previously been told to delete inappropriate photos from his phone, was charged with sex crimes involving a minor earlier this month for having those same photos on his phone, according to warrants provided by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Renée Wunderlich, with SLED, said Johnny Ray Steele, 75, of Lancaster, faces second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
Steele is a Municipal Court judge in Fort Lawn, Wunderlich said, a town in Chester County of 962 people, according to the 2020 census.
Warrants stated the crimes happened on or about August 5 in Lancaster County.
They said Steele used an iPhone to text a photo of a minor “in a state of sexually explicit nudity” and saved it to his camera roll.
Steele also had 15 photos saved in the phone’s Notes application of the minor “in various states of undress” and explicit nudity, according to the warrants.
“The photos could be inferred for the purpose of sexual stimulations,” the warrants read.
The warrants also stated that Steele “had previously had the same sexually explicit photos deleted from his phone on July 20, 2022, during an interview with SLED … and was expressly told they were inappropriate to have in his possession and Steele denied they were anywhere else on the phone.”
The warrants were dated Nov. 4.
Steele was booked at the Lancaster County Detention Center, SLED said.
No booking photo was immediately available.
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