Two Men Charged with Sex Crimes in Separate Investigations

On Monday, Oconee County Deputies arrested 30 year-old Eddie Hubert Derrick and charged him with three counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Derrick, who has listed addresses in Westminster and Seneca, was transported from the McCormick County Sheriff’s Office to the Oconee County Detention Center, where he remains in custody on $75,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Office began its investigation on July 12th after a deputy spoke with a family member of the teenage victim regarding allegations of a sexual assault. The incidents occurred during 2021, according to the arrest warrants.

 

And, according to jail records, this past Thursday, July 21, 39 year-old Timothy Adam Watkins of West Union was arrested by the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, along with investigators with the Attorney General’s Office. Watkins is charged with eight counts of third degree sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of second degree of the same.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said the arrest came after investigators received Cyber Tipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which led them to Watkins, whom they accused of possessing files of child sexual abuse material.

The felony crimes will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office and are punishable by up to ten years in prison on each count, Wilson said. Watkins is being held at the Oconee County Detention Center on $100,000 bond.