A 46-year-old North Charleston man is facing two felony charges after investigators say he produced child sexual abuse material, in a case that is now being handled by the South Carolina Attorney General's Office. Daniel Paul Van Nostrand was arrested this past Thursday and charged with two counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, each carrying a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years if he is convicted.
According to WCBD News 2, investigators said Van Nostrand produced child sexual abuse material, and the arrest came out of work by Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigators with the Charleston Police Department. The case has since been handed to the South Carolina Attorney General's Office, which will prosecute it. As Live 5 News also reported, Van Nostrand faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the two counts.
Federal Agencies Joined the Task Force Investigation
The investigation drew in more than local resources. Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI, all members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, assisted, per the same outlet's reporting. That kind of multi-agency involvement is typical for ICAC task forces nationally, which conducted nearly 347,000 investigations in 2025 alone, leading to more than 17,000 arrests, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Court records cited in the WCBD News 2 report show Van Nostrand is not a first-time offender. He was convicted of assault to commit rape in 2001 and of peeping, voyeurism or aggravated voyeurism in 2013, the station reported.
Earlier Report Described a Different Account of the 2001 Case
A separate 2012 report from Bluffton Today described the 2001 case differently, stating Van Nostrand was convicted on Jan. 11, 2001, in California for assault and intent to commit criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and that he was released in 2007. That same report identified him as a registered sex offender in Jasper County. The two accounts of the 2001 conviction differ in their details, and the discrepancy has not been resolved in available records.
Part of a Broader Push Against Crimes Against Children in the Region
Van Nostrand's arrest follows other recent Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force activity in the Charleston area. A multi-agency undercover sting known as Operation Online Guardian, led by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office alongside the state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, resulted in the arrests of eight men for various crimes against children, according to a separate report from the same regional news outlet. In that operation, law enforcement posed as minors under age 14 on social media, and several of the men were accused of traveling to meet a minor for sex.
No additional details about the charges against Van Nostrand, including information about any alleged victim, have been released in available reporting.
