Myrtle Beach area man wrongfully accused of raping children at strip club receives $50K
A Myrtle Beach area man wrongfully arrested for child sexual assault allegations received $50,000 in a settlement with the Horry County Solicitor’s office.
In October, 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson agreed to settle a lawsuit with Anthony Strickland for $50,000 after spending nearly $90,000 to defend himself, South Carolina Insurance Reserve Fund payments show. The insurance agency paid for the settlement and court fees.
While the case was officially settled last fall, documents detailing the payout were not released until this year.
Richardson and Patrick McLaughlin, Strickland’s lawyer, declined to comment about the settlement amount.
The $50,000 is only part of Strickland’s resolution as the portion Horry County Police agreed to pay is not listed on the document. The Sun News reached out to Horry County spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov to find out how much Horry County Police settled for, but did not hear back before publication.
In 2021, Strickland sued Horry County Police for malicious prosecution. He also sued the police agency and Richardson in his capacity as solicitor for defamation and civil conspiracy.
In 2016, Horry County Police arrested Strickland and three others on a slew of charges alleging they were making child porn at Chez Joey, a now closed strip club Strickland managed. Police said Strickland, Panteleimon Spirakis, Ambrose Heavener and Lindsey Honeycutt forced a set of 4-year-old twins to have sex with each other and adults in exchange for money, among other horrifying acts of abuse.
Spirakis, Heavener and Honeycutt pleaded guilty while Strickland’s charges were dropped in 2018 after police found he was not involved.
However Strickland’s arrest left a lasting impact on his life.
He spent 14 days in jail before posting an $80,000 bond and entering home detention. Strickland had to abide by a curfew and could not leave the state of South Carolina for two years, according to the lawsuit
He returned home to his 14- and 16-year-old children whom he had sole custody of, the suit stated. Within two months of starting home detention, the Department of Social Services opened a case regarding his kids and asked him to give up rights to his two children, which Strickland refused. The case was closed six to nine months later, with Strickland retaining full custody of his children.
Strickland believes Richardson prompted DSS to open the case against him.
The case was also reported by multiple news agencies, putting his case in the public eye.
The other three people charged have already been sentenced, The Sun News reported. Honeycutt, the twin’s mother, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Spirakis to 20 years. Heavener, the children’s father, is serving 15 years through an Alford plea, which is when a defendant does not admit to their role in the alleged incident, but says there is enough evidence they would likely be found guilty in a trial.
Honeycutt admitted she began sexually abusing her 4-year-old twins with Spirakis at the home she shared with Heavener, the lawsuit stated. She then later brought the children to the Pearlz Cabaret, a strip club where she worked. Honeycutt said the Atlantic Beach club was more like a “brothel,” the suit said.
Spirakis gave Honeycutt and Heavener money and drugs in exchange for assaulting the children, according to the lawsuit.
Honeycutt said she tried to recruit Strickland, but he failed the “tests” she gave. She also admitted she implicated Strickland because he managed a strip club, the complaint said.
“On March 1, 2016, Anthony Strickland was arrested and accused of the most vile criminal acts one can be accused of. For over 8 years, Anthony maintained his innocence, fully consenting to each and every search the State asked of him; passing a polygraph examination; and demanding his criminal charges either be dismissed or the State give him his day in Court,” McLaughlin said in a statement he emailed to The Sun News in October. “During that time, Anthony was forced to fight for the custody of his own children (which he won) and live with public ridicule led by social media lynch mobs.”
