Columbia, SC 03/27/2025 - Attorney General Alan Wilson announced that, on March 26, 2025, after a three-day trial, a Lexington County jury found Mark Frick, 57, guilty of Criminal Solicitation of a Minor and Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, First Degree. The Honorable Judge Debra McCaslin sentenced Frick to 10 years in prison on the Attempted Sexual Exploitation charge and four years on the Solicitation charge. Those sentences will run consecutively for a total sentence of 14 years in prison. He will have to register as a sex offender upon his release.
The investigation of Frick began in August of 2021 when the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department hosted an undercover chat operation in Lexington County involving members of the SC Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Detective Kenneth Clark, of the Mount Pleasant Police and a task force member, created an online persona of a 14-year-old girl on a social media site. Frick began a conversation with the persona and acknowledged her age. Frick continued to message the persona and made plans to meet for a sexual encounter. Frick was taken into custody upon arriving at a predetermined location to meet the 14-year-old persona. Special Investigator Jason Hughes of the SC Attorney General’s Office interviewed Frick, who confessed to attempting to meet the persona.
The SC Attorney General’s Office, Lexington County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Homeland Security, Mount Pleasant Police Department, and NCIS participated in the operation.
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Ryan prosecuted the case with co-counsel Assistant Attorneys General Michelle Pappas and Anna Sharpe.
