Source: Office of United States Attorneys
COLUMBIA, S.C. —Donald Ray Hurst, Jr., 35, of Sumter, has pleaded guilty to destruction of an energy facility and possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Evidence obtained in the investigation revealed that on Aug. 11, 2023, Duke Energy called law enforcement to respond to a power outage near Fish Road in Dalzell. FBI agents and deputies with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office arrived and saw that the regulator bank, which helps distribute power to the local community and businesses, had multiple holes in it that appeared to be from bullets. The damage resulted in a power outage to several thousand customers. The cost of the clean-up and replacement of the regulators was over $100,000.
Investigators spoke to witnesses who stated they heard gunshots near the regulators on Aug. 9. After speaking with witnesses, agents installed a pole camera at that location. Two days later, they returned and found that the regulators had been shot again. They also recovered a 9mm shell casing at the scene.
A review of the pole camera footage revealed that a white van arrived near the regulators. The van stopped and gunshots were seen being fired toward the energy facility. Agents located the owner of the van, with the help of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and interviewed the owner who was in possession of the vehicle. The owner stated that Hurst and another individual possessed the van during the time of the shooting. Agents searched the van and found a spent 9mm shell casing.
Agents later executed a search warrant on Hurst’s residence and recovered a firearm in his room and a 9mm handgun in a safe in another room of the house. Forensic analysis determined that the shell casing found at the scene of the shooting on Aug. 14 and the shell casing recovered from the van were fired from the 9mm handgun. Hurst’s fingerprint was also found on the trigger of the 9mm handgun, and the key to the safe containing the firearm was located with Hurst’s car keys.
While incarcerated, Hurst was heard on a recorded jail phone call informing someone about a hard drive in his room that needed to be recovered because it “could get someone in trouble.” In a subsequent recorded phone call, Hurst admitted to shooting the regulator bank. He also stated that the hard drive found at his home contained images of child sexual abuse material that he acquired from the dark web.
Agents retrieved the hard drive from the home. A search warrant on the hard drive revealed several images that were confirmed to be CSAM by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Hurst faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, restitution, and a lifetime of supervision to follow the term of imprisonment for each charge. United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis accepted the guilty plea and will sentence Hurst after receiving and reviewing a sentencing report prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.
This case was made possible by investigative leads generated from the ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). NIBIN is the only national network that allows for the capture and comparison of ballistic evidence to aid in solving and preventing violent crimes involving firearms. NIBIN is a proven investigative and intelligence tool that can link firearms from multiple crime scenes, allowing law enforcement to quickly disrupt shooting cycles. For more information on NIBIN, visit https://www.atf.gov/firearms/national-integrated-ballistic-information-network-nibin
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
This case was also brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.
This case was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, and the Sumter Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lamar J. Fyall and Michael Shedd are prosecuting the case.
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