A Lexington County man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a 14-year-old.

Timothy Michael Jones, Jr., 33, pleaded guilty to second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor in addition to third degree burglary, and was sentenced to 15 years for the sexual conduct charge. He was given a concurrent sentence of five years for a separate third degree burglary charge. Under state law, the sexual assault charge is a no parole offense.

He has been transported to the state Department of Corrections to begin serving his sentence.

“In April of 2021, Jones was on the social media platform, Snapchat, when he connected with a fourteen-year-old girl who was spending the night with one of her friends,” a release from the 11th Circuit Solicitor's office reads. “Jones picked the two girls up and took them to the Red Bank area of Lexington County. Jones gave the girls a cocktail of three illegal drugs and sexually assaulted one of the girls before taking them home. The minor victim disclosed what occurred to her family and her parents notified law enforcement. The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department conducted the investigation of this case and detectives were able to identify Jones.”

Jones was already a registered sex offender due to a prior conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, leading Chief Administrative Judge Debra McCaslin to express “concern that a registered sex offender was continuing to troll for young teenagers online,” the release states.

The burglary conviction stemmed from Sept. 26, 2020, when “Jones entered a home without the homeowner’s permission and stole approximately two thousand dollars’ worth of her possessions. After being identified on the victim’s home surveillance system, Jones did admit to the crimes.”

That incident was investigated by the Town of Lexington Police Department.

The release states that Jones had prior criminal charges for drugs, domestic violence and sex offender registry violations.

“This case highlights the dangers of social media platforms, such as Snapchat, that provide child predators with ample hunting grounds to prey on young teenagers,” 11th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Ashley Wellman, who prosecuted the case, is quoted. “We must be vigilant in talking to our children about these very real threats.”