Bishop

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After he spends at least part of the next decade in prison, a Union man will have to register as a sex offender after being found guilty of the sexual exploitation of children.

In a statement released Monday morning, Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett announced that Douglas Bishop was convicted last Thursday of two counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor following a three-day jury trial in General Sessions Court. Judge John C. Hayes of York sentenced Bishop to 10 years in prison on each count with the sentences to be served concurrently.

In addition to the sentences he will have to serve, upon his release from prison Bishop will have to register with the Union County Sheriff’s Office as a sex offender.

Brackett stated that the investigation against Bishop began on May 5, 2010 when a 15-year-old girl reported to the sheriff’s office that Bishop had fondled her the previous night while she was visiting his stepdaughter at his residence on Wardlaw Street in Union. As the investigation was getting underway, investigators received information from Bishop’s wife that he had downloaded child pornography onto a computer at their house. Deputies they secured and executed a search warrant at Bishop’s residence where they seized a desktop computer.

The computer was then turned over to SLED’s Computer Crime Center for analysis. SLED analysts found 35 photographs and 30 videos containing child pornography on one of the computer’s hard drives. A number of these were shown to the jurors during Bishop’s trial.

Brackett thanked the jurors for doing their duty despite the unpleasant and disturbing nature of the evidence they had to view. He also thanked the sheriff’s office and the Union County branch of his office for their work on the case.

“We are particularly grateful for the service of the jury in cases such as these which require jurors to view some of the most disgusting and difficult evidence,” Brackett said. “I would also like to commend both Sheriff David Taylor and his office as well as my Deputy Solicitor, John Anthony, for all of the hard work that went in to taking Mr. Bishop off the street.”

Taylor said Bishop is currently being held in the Union County Jail, but will be transferred Tuesday to the State Reception and Evaluation Center in Columbia. Authorities there will then determine which prison Bishop will serve his sentence and transfer him accordingly.