Man Charged in Web Sex Sting

A Little River man has been charged by the Georgetown County Sheriff with attempting to solicit sex from an individual he believed was a minor.

Attorney General Alan Wilson announced Monday that Ryan Sean Bowlen, 26, was arrested on March 23, in an Internet Predator case investigated by the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office.

The sting, where an officer posed as a minor soliciting sex, was part of the Attorney General's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Bowlen was arrested on one count of criminal solicitation of a minor, a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment; one count of attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, a felony offense punishable to 20 years in jail; and one count of dissemination of obscene material to a minor, a felony offense punishable to 10 years imprisonment.

Bowlen is accused of using a Craigslist ad to solicit sex from an individual he believed to be a minor child, according to the arrest warrant. The "child" who answered his ad was actually an undercover Georgetown Sheriff's Deputy.

Bowlen emailed and text messaged the undercover persona for eight days before he arranged to meet the "child" for sex, and was arrested upon his arrival.