By Roxana Navarro
Sep 10, 2024, 10:41 PM EDT
A former Cornelius police officer has pleaded guilty to child sex crimes while working as a youth volunteer at a South Carolina church, the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said. The sentencing came a year after he was arrested by authorities, and the judge sentenced him to nine years in prison.
Erickson Douglas Lee pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first-degree assault and battery, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and disseminating obscene material to a minor.
“Lee is charged with disseminating obscene material to a person under the age of 18, first-degree battery, second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. The alleged incidents occurred at Lee’s home in Fort Mill, South Carolina,” the York County sheriff said.
The man, now 26, showed up in court a day later for his hearing, adding another year to his sentence. He was scheduled to give his plea on Thursday, Sept. 5, but was pushed back to the next day, WCNC reported.
Volunteer in a church program
Erickson Douglas led a youth program at MorningStar Fellowship Church in York County called “Youth Special Forces,” which was designed to foster leadership in teens and help them develop teamwork habits, WBTV reported.
According to a York County Sheriff’s Office account, “Erickson allegedly began inviting at least 4 of these juveniles over in early 2020 to provide them with alcohol, in addition to hosting parties, showing them pornographic videos, and performing sexual acts on them.”
All of these criminal sexual acts occurred at Erickson Lee’s home in Fort Mill, and at other locations that were not specified by authorities. The court documents, the same news outlet says, provide more information about how the man committed the acts with the teenagers.
He lied to the children’s parents
“Erickson would host these parties, but he would tell the parents that he wanted to take the kids to host a leadership exercise or a camping trip,” the sheriff shared. Which was false, as Lee would take them to various locations in and out of York County.
The investigation into Erickson began when the church began receiving repeated complaints from the children’s parents, according to the sheriff’s office, WCNC added.
Arrested since 2023
Erickson Lee was originally arrested on these charges in Charlotte but was released after posting bail. He later resigned as a Cornelius police officer hours before his arrest. In South Carolina, he was required to register as a sex offender.
In May 2023, the man was arrested by police and booked into the York County Detention Center. One year and four months later, Erickson Lee appeared in the 16th Circuit District Attorney’s Office to plead guilty to the charges and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
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