GARDEN CITY, S.C. — A South Carolina couple, previously arrested in January over public sex videos they had uploaded to adult platforms, has once again been charged under local “obscenity” statutes after an anonymous informant gave the police a USB drive containing their adult content.
According to local NBC affiliate KXAN, Eric and Lori Harmon were arrested yesterday and were being held without bail.
“On August 5, police were called to Oceanside Village where someone provided them with a USB drive with several different incidents involving the Harmons performing sex acts in public taken from various social media platforms,” KXAN reported, based on police records.
The person who informed on the Harmons alleged there had been “continuing issues with the couple.”
The Harmons have been charged with “indecent exposure and participation in preparation of obscene material” because of videos taken in late July showing Lori “sitting on a front porch fully-exposed,” and also “participating in sexual acts while exposed,” and “performing sex acts in a photo booth at the Garden City Pavilion Arcade and sharing the video to Twitter.” Her husband is accused of “sharing a video on Twitter” and also of participating in the photo booth video.
The rarely enforced South Carolina statute, “Participation in preparation of obscene material prohibited” (SC Code § 16-15-325, 2012), states the following:
Any individual who knowingly:
(a) photographs himself or any other individual or animal for purposes of preparing an obscene film, photograph, negative, slide, videotapes, motion picture or digital electronic files for the purpose of dissemination; or
(b) models, poses, acts or otherwise assists in the preparation of any obscene film, photograph, negative, slide, videotapes, motion picture or digital electronic files for the purpose of dissemination is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than one year and fined not more than one thousand dollars.
Two Strikes
Back in January, as XBIZ reported, the Harmons pled guilty to multiple sex crimes, including obscenity, after police were tipped off about public sex videos they had allegedly shot and uploaded to an adult website.
The alleged indecent exposure was not witnessed or reported by anyone at the time of the incident and the investigation by local police seems to have only consisted of reviewing the videos allegedly posted by the couple to the adult site.
The original January 16 arrest, according to ABC News, occurred “after officers were tipped off to videos showing the couple performing sex acts inside a glass gondola at the Myrtle Beach SkyWheel within view of the public, and at a community pool in the Surfside Beach area of Horry County sometime during December 2020.”
“The warrants said the defendants recorded the acts and uploaded the video to an adult website,” the news site added.
A Tearful Public Apology
After their January arrest, the Harmons published a tearful video on social media.
“I’d like to think I was a good person,” a visibly moved Lori Harmon told her Facebook audience. “I was just having some fun. That’s what I thought I was doing. But it was wrong — it’s against the law and I should not have done that and I’m truly sorry and I hate, hate this, because of my family, my kids having to go through this and see this.”
Eric Harmon added that they “did not want our kids to see this or even know about this but the media has blasted us all over the world and of course our kids found it.”
“I’m here to apologize,” Lori continued. “I’ve learned a lesson. I’m not gonna do it again. If anything, please reach out to me, I’d really like to make it right for you all because that’s not how I want to live my life. I was just having fun and I got out of control. And this was a huge wake-up call.”
