South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced lengthy prison sentences for two people who sexually abused a three-year-old child.
On Dec. 22, Greenville County Judge Patrick Fant III sentenced Jacob Lance, a South Carolina Department of Corrections inmate, to 43 years for Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, 1st Degree.
In addition, Abbygale El-Dier of Greenville County was sentenced to 40 years for Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor, 1st Degree, and two consecutive five-year sentences for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, 1st Degree, for a total sentence of 50 years.
Lance’s new conviction will give him a release date in 2085, as he is already serving a sentence that would have ended in June 2042.
El-Dier and Lance began a romantic relationship with each other, enabled by the use of illegal contraband cell phones.
The defendants then, through the use of these contraband cell phones, sexually assaulted the then 3-year-old minor victim, photographing, live streaming, and video recording the acts.
These acts were physically performed by El-Dier and allegedly done at the contemporaneous direction and encouragement of Lance, and the materials were shared with him in real time via transmitted pictures, video and live streaming.Â
The State Grand Jury indicted Lance and El-Dier as part of "Operation Clean Sweep," an investigation into the Lee Correctional Institution, involving allegations of sexual abuse of a minor victim, the production of child sexual abuse material and public corruption.
