Opinion ID: 1360599
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Gaines, using the computer alias of HMMRTHEGRT8, engaged in internet communications on AOL chat rooms with a person he believed to be a twelve year old girl in Philadelphia, PA. The girl used the screen name LilAshleyPA. The online chats occurred in an America Online (AOL) chat room between February and June 2004 during which time Gaines encouraged LilAshleyPA to travel to Greenville, South Carolina to see him. Gaines repeatedly made detailed sexual references as to how he wanted to spend time with LilAshley-PA when she arrived in South Carolina and proposed to rent a hotel room where she could stay with him. He also offered to buy LilAshleyPA clothing and lingerie and requested that she send him nude photos of herself. He emphasized that LilAshleyPA needed to keep their plans a secret because guys my age aren't allowed to date girls your age. Unbeknownst to Gaines, LilAshleyPA was actually Lisa Carroll, an undercover detective with the Pennsylvania Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Detective Carroll obtained a court order to obtain information on Gaines' identification and upon discovering Gaines lived in South Carolina, Detective Carroll referred the matter to South Carolina authorities. Thereafter, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agents set up an AOL internet account using the screen name Allyinsc13. In October 2004, Allyinsc13 contacted HMMRTHEGRT8 online by saying hey. Gaines responded and the two began to chat. After discovering that Allyinsc13 was a thirteen-year-old living in Columbia and disclosing that he was twenty-eight years old, Gaines inquired into the possibility of their meeting up for the purpose of engaging in various forms of sexual intercourse. Allyinsc13 indicated that she was interested in HMMRTHEGRT8's visiting her in Columbia, and in their subsequent chats, Gaines proposed renting a hotel room and theorized the details of their first sexual encounter. He also offered to buy Allyinsc13 jeans and lingerie and requested she send him a photo. Gaines reminded Allyinsc13 that she needed to keep their relationship a secret because guys my age aren't supposed to date girls under 18. Based on Gaines' chats with Allyinsc13, which continued until the end of January 2005, SLED agents procured an order to obtain HMMRTHEGRT8's records from AOL. SLED agents confirmed that the online chats originated from the home that Gaines shared with his parents in Traveler's Rest and obtained a search warrant under which they confiscated Gaines' computer. Gaines subsequently provided oral and written statements admitting that he used the screen name HMMRTHEGRT8 and that he communicated with girls on the Internet using that name, but claimed he was just talking with them. Gaines was indicted on three counts of criminal solicitation of a minor in violation of S.C.Code Ann. § 16-15-342 for online chats with Allyinsc13 on October 25, 2004, November 30, 2004, and January 27, 2005. A jury convicted Gaines on all three counts. He was sentenced to concurrent ten-year terms, suspended to four years incarceration with five years probation on each count. This appeal followed.