Conway man charged with sexually abusing minor in Horry County
A Conway man has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor. The call to report a sexual assault came from Aynor Elementary School.
Leonard Barker, 76, was arrested Friday morning and charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 16.
Jail records show that Barker was booked into J. Reuben Long Detention Center at about 7:50 a.m. and he remains incarcerated there as of Friday evening. His bond is set at $5,000.
The incident report from Horry County police lists two suspects — Barker and a second suspect whose name has been redacted from the document. The second suspect has not been charged, said Aaron Spelbring of the Horry County Government Public Information Office.
Spelbring said Barker’s arrest warrant was not yet available.
Horry County police arrived at Aynor Elementary School on March 12 for a call about a sexual assault, according to the incident report.
The officer spoke with the person who made the call after interviewing the victim. The victim said in the interview that they were asked to have sex with the first suspect, whose name was redacted from the police report. The victim said this had been going on for a while and happened often, according to the incident report.
Police contacted the Department of Social Services and set up a safety plan so that the victim would not have contact with the suspects.
Some information is redacted from the police report, including a sentence from the narrative portion of the police report and the identities of the victim and the person who made the report to the police, and the other suspect.
If convicted, Barker faces up to 15 years in prison.
Correction: The headline of this story has been corrected to show the sexual abuse was reported to police at Aynor Elementary School. The reported incident it did not occur at the school.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 5:38 PM.
