A 49-year-old Fair Play man is being held on a combined $200,000 bond after Oconee County deputies say he picked up a teenage girl walking near her home, drove her to a shed where he was living, and sexually assaulted her before returning her to where he found her. George W. Watson Jr. was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center on charges of kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a minor.
According to investigators, the reported events unfolded between late evening on Oct. 11 and the early morning hours of Oct. 12. Per the investigation, the victim had left her residence near Fair Play and was walking down the road when Watson stopped and picked her up in an older white truck, as reported by WSPA. Investigators say Watson then drove her to a shed in Fair Play where he was residing.
Deputies Detail Alleged Confinement and Assault
Once at the shed, investigators allege Watson pulled the teenager from the truck, locked the door, confined her inside, pushed her down and sexually assaulted her. He reportedly drove her back to the place where he had originally picked her up and dropped her off during the early morning hours of Oct. 12, per the same account from the station.
Two arrest warrants were signed against Watson after consultations with a judge, alleging he unlawfully confined the victim and committed sexual battery. Those warrants were entered into the National Crime Information Center database, and an investigator separately obtained search warrants after consulting with a judge.
School Resource Officer First Learned of Reported Assault
The investigation began on Oct. 13 after a school resource officer assigned to a school in the School District of Oconee County was notified of a reported sexual assault involving a teenager, the Oconee County Sheriff's Office said, according to Fox Carolina. That officer met with the victim and began an investigation, which was then transferred to a violent crimes investigator assigned to the sheriff's office's Criminal Investigations Bureau.
Watson was transported from the Pickens County Detention Center to the Oconee County Detention Center by a deputy assigned to the warrants unit. He remains jailed on the combined $200,000 surety bond, and if he is released, he must wear an electronic monitoring device as a condition of that bond.
In a post on X, the Oconee County Sheriff's Office
confirmed Watson remains jailed under those bond conditions following his arrest last Friday. The sheriff's office said its investigation is continuing and that it will not release any information that could identify the minor victim.
