A 71-year-old Spartanburg County man has been arrested on child sex crime charges after South Carolina's top law enforcement agency investigated allegations stretching back to 2008. Howard Thomas Henderson, identified by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division as a resident of Landrum, now faces three felony counts tied to conduct authorities say occurred over a multi-year span.
SLED investigated Henderson, according to The Tryon Daily Bulletin. The available reports do not specify where the alleged offenses occurred. As reported by FOX Carolina News, Henderson now faces charges of incest, second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and criminal sexual conduct with a minor between the ages of 11 and 14.
Allegations Span Nearly Four Years
According to arrest warrants cited by the station's report, the alleged sexual battery began on January 1, 2008, with Henderson accused of using a position of authority to coerce the victim into submitting to the abuse. A second period of alleged sexual battery is said to have occurred between December 28, 2009, and December 27, 2011. Investigators say that on December 28, 2009, Henderson threatened physical harm against the victim and others in order to commit the sexual battery, per the same account.
Landrum, where Henderson lives, is a small town of roughly 2,481 residents in northern Spartanburg County near the North Carolina border, according to Wikipedia. The town's incorporation date is inconsistently reported. The South Carolina Attorney General's Office will prosecute the Henderson case; EIN News separately reported on a different SLED case.
What the Charges Carry Under State Law
Second-degree criminal sexual conduct carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, according to the Touma Law Group. The related charge of criminal sexual conduct with a minor involving a victim aged 11 to 15 carries a mandatory sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison, per the same source. Incest, codified under South Carolina Code § 16-15-20, is treated as an offense against morality and decency, punishable by a minimum $500 fine, at least one year in the state penitentiary, or both.
South Carolina law provides for sex-offender registration, according to SLED's public registry guidelines. Certain convictions for second-degree criminal sexual conduct or felony child sex offenses in South Carolina require registration on the South Carolina Public Sex Offender Registry, which SLED manages in coordination with county sheriff offices.
A Statewide Pattern of Reported Cases
SLED has a dedicated Special Victims Unit containing child-fatalities and vulnerable-adults units, according to SLED. That unit's existence provides context for SLED's involvement in Henderson's case.
The scale of these investigations statewide is significant. SLED investigated 315 tips involving more than 300 potential victims across South Carolina in 2025, with a majority of those cases involving minor victims, according to data released by the Office of the South Carolina Attorney General. Henderson's case is a recent SLED-led child sex crime prosecution in the region.
It remains unclear how the alleged evidence in Henderson's case, tied to conduct dating back to 2008, was preserved and ultimately brought forward more than a decade later. Court filings and future statements from the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office are expected to shed more light on how the case developed. No additional details about Henderson's arraignment or bond status were available at the time of this report.
