The state Attorney General’s Office recently announced the arrests of two Lexington County men on charges involving minors and the sentencing of another.

Michael Dwayne Elkin, who was already a registered sex offender, is set to go to prison for seven years after committing another offense.

Elkin, a West Columbia man who was born in 1969, was sentenced after pleading guilty Feb. 28 in Lexington County court to one count of attempted dissemination of obscene material to a minor 12 or under.

“On February 8, 2022, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department received a case referral from law enforcement in Pontiac, Illinois,” a release states. “An officer in Illinois had been posing as a 12-year-old child on the internet and a registered sex offender from South Carolina, Elkin, reached out to the undercover persona. 

“After learning that the minor was 12 years old, Elkin sent the undercover persona a nude image of himself. He then requested to see images of the minor’s body and images of her engaging in sexual activity. The Lexington Sheriff’s Department obtained subscriber information for Elkin’s account, which led investigators back to his residence in Lexington County. A subsequent forensic examination of Elkin’s cell phone located the images from the illegal conversations.”

The Attorney General’s Office also announced the arrests of Joshua Daniel Callahan, a 24-year-old from Pelion, and Christopher P. Veltmann, a 68-year-old from Gaston, on a total of seven charges related to the sexual exploitation of minors.

Callahan is charged with one count of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor and faces up to 10 years in prison, while Veltmann is charged with the same second degree offense along with five counts of third degree sexual exploitation of a minor, with all of those charges carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Both men were arrested Feb. 28.

“Investigators received a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) which led them to both Callahan and Veltmann,” a release details.  “Investigators state Callahan distributed child sexual abuse material and Veltmann distributed and possessed files of child sexual abuse material.”