CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for criminal sexual conduct with minors in Cherokee County.
According to the Seventh Circuit Solicitor’s Office, William Merrell Read, 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the second degree in Cherokee County.
Read also pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He must register as a sex-offender.
The crimes occurred in April 2020 in Cherokee County, one at the Baymont Motel in Gaffney.
Read took two young girls aged 13 and 14 into a hotel room where he gave them alcohol and marijuana before forcibly sexually assaulting both girls in front of each other, according to the solicitor’s office.
During the assaults, one of the victims was able to call a friend on a phone and hide the phone under a pillow. The victims disclosed the sexual assaults to investigators with the Gaffney Police Department.
Law enforcement also obtained surveillance footage clearly showing Read taking the two young girls into the lobby of the motel.
Also in April 2020, on Bolin Rd. in Cherokee County, Read forced a 13-year-old girl to remove her clothing and sexually assaulted her, the solicitor’s office said.
In their investigation law enforcement obtained Snapchat messages from Read to the victim as well as messages to another girl he intended to assault.
After release, Read must register as a sex-offender.
