John Corey Jackson won a runoff election on April 16, 2019 in Dillon, South Carolina. Weeks later in May 2019, Jackson was arrested and charged with 11 counts of first-degree sexual exploitation stemming from an investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
Arrest warrants show Jackson offered $100 to $1,000 in exchange for naked photographs of teen boys.
Jackson was sworn into office on May 30, 2019 but was immediately suspended on the same day by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster through an executive order, leaving the mayor-elect with no mayoral power, according to WBTW News.
McMaster’s suspension of Jackson is standard procedure for elected officials facing criminal charges.
Jackson used Snapchat — a photo and video messaging app — to offer teenage boys money in exchange for explicit photos, according to his arrest warrant. The teens were all minors at the time of the interactions, which lasted from June 2017 to April 2019.
While some of the minors refused Jackson’s overtures, others complied by sending him pictures of exposed private parts they found on the internet for which they were paid, SLED said in the arrest warrants.
Jackson was also accused of sending explicit photos of a woman to the minors along with money, according to the warrants.
