SC man threatened and exposed himself online to teenagers, police say

A 40-year-old man in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, who impersonated a 16-year-old boy online to harass a 13-year-old girl, is now going to prison, according to federal court documents.

Nathan Branham, from Cheraw, South Carolina, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor.

At the time of the incident, Branham was on federal freedom under the supervision of a criminal weapon charge, according to the US Attorney. M. Rhett DeHartoffice. Brother Branham has a long criminal history, including convictions for indecent exposure and assault and battery.

Branham first contacted the 13-year-old girl from Kentucky through the online streaming app UpLive on May 16, 2020. He told her he was a 16-year-old boy named Mystic and convinced her to contact him through the video Google Due chat app, according to online court documents.

During the video chat, the girl noticed that he looked much older. Brother Branham tried to tell her that he had a genetic condition that made him look older, but the girl hung up, according to court documents.

Braham then began harassing and threatening the 13-year-old, according to online court documents (below)

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He told her that he would “hack her shit” if she didn’t join the Google Duo with him when he asked. He said he would use his phone number to find his location, federal court documents say.

“You know I have your number, so your address is not that hard to find, do you really want to try me?” Braham sent a message.

After several threats and phone calls, the 13-year-old called Braham.

“This is what you are going to do, show me your body or else I will find your address,” he said to the 13-year-old, according to federal documents.

Terrified, the 13-year-old agreed and then Branham exposed his penis, according to court documents.

Brother Branham then threatened the girl again and told her to perform sexual acts on herself, according to court documents. She ended the call.

The 13-year-old girl ran to her mother’s room crying and told her about the incident.

The girl’s parents contacted Branham, who then falsely claimed to be a state police officer and said his two children were responsible for contacting the girl.

A family friend then contacted Branham aka “Mystic” via a fake name and phone number on UpLive and captured an image of his face to give to the police.

The family then reported Branham to the police, who tracked Branham’s cell number to his home on Peachtree Road in Cheraw, South Carolina.

Federal agents also found that Braham did Google searches for “teenage camel fingers,” according to online records.

He was arrested and charged a week later.

Branham “admitted to having engaged in similar interactions with minors on more than thirty occasions and admitted to having had sex with a minor when he was 29,” according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

Branham received no additional time for violating his supervised federal release.

After serving the 60-month sentence, Branham will be supervised by the court for three years and will have to register as a sex offender.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Deputy Attorney General Derek Shoemake he processed the case, which was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the ICAC task force of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, and the ICAC task force of the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office.

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