Men arrested on child sex abuse

4 Lexington County men are facing 14 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors.

Greg Daniel Lancelot, Jr., 23, of Cayce, Patrick Michael Kaminer, 33, of West Columbia, William E. Mc-Connell, 35, of Cayce, and Marc D. Romanelli, 50, of Lexington, have been arrested in the unrelated cases.

Investigators received separate CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Investigators state all 4 men distributed files of child sexual abuse material.

Each of these men was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, 2nd degree, a felony offense punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment on each count.

• Lancelot was arrested on Nov. 17 and charged with 2 counts.

• Kaminer was arrested on Nov. 24 and charged with 2 counts.

• McConnell and Romanelli were both arrested on Nov. 30 and each charged with 5 counts.

This case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

Gilbert man arrested on child abuse charges

A Gilbert man has been arrested on multiple charges connected to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.

Christopher Jacob Barfield, 27, of Gilbert, was arrested Nov. 20. He is charged with 1 count of attempted criminal solicitation of a minor, 1 count of attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor, 1 count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor 1st degree, and 2 counts of disseminating obscene material to a person under age 18.

Investigators state Barfield solicited a person he believed to be a minor for sex, traveled to meet a person he believed to be a minor for sex, encouraged them to produce child sexual abuse material and sent sexually explicit images to a minor victim.

This case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office.

Home Depot settles data breach case

SC will collect $207,152.80 from a settlement with Georgia-based retailer The Home Depot.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson Tuesday with 45 other states and the District of Columbia have obtained a $17.5 million-dollar settlement against the company.

The settlement resolves a multistate investigation of a 2014 data breach that exposed the payment card information of approximately 40 million Home Depot consumers nationwide.

In addition to the $17.5 million total payment to the states, The Home Depot has agreed to implement and maintain a series of data security practices designed to strengthen its information security program and safeguard the personal information of consumers.