SC police arrest man for having nude pics of kids on phone. He appears to be former pastor
North Myrtle Beach Police arrested a Virginia man after they found “voluminous amounts” of child porn on his cell phone.
The man appears to be a former pastor at a Virginia Baptist church.
Chadwick Branch, 55, was arrested for two counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor on Feb. 11. He was released on a $5,000 bond Tuesday afternoon.
Branch is from Danville, Virginia, according to a police report.
Branch seems to be the former pastor for Victory Baptist Church in Sutherlin, Virginia. There are videos of what appears to be him preaching on the church’s Facebook page until May 2023.
Messages left for the church about Branch were not immediately returned by publication.
On Jan. 9, The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force got a tip regarding a video of three nude girls under the age of 13 conducting “sexual acts” that was sent on Kik, an instant messaging platform, a North Myrtle Beach Police report said. The video was sent from an IP address in North Myrtle Beach on July 23, 2024.
Police spoke to the property owner where the IP address originated, who said Branch and his wife stayed in the unit from July 20 to July 24, according to the report.
Police discovered Branch would be out of the country until Jan. 30. When he returned to the United States, Homeland Security Investigations agents stopped Branch and searched his phone at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
“Voluminous amounts of child sexual assault material was located on Mr. Branch’s iPhone 13 during HSI’s cursory search of his device,” the police report said.
This included the videos transmitted in North Myrtle Beach in July 2024. There was also another video of two prepubescent girls performing sexual acts.
