A captain at Fort Gordon has been re-arrested after an investigation caught him with cell-phone video committing sexual battery on a helpless 16-year-old victim in Aiken County.
Sean Cushman, 29, of Graniteville, had been released on a $15,000 bond in mid-July after his arrest for child porn, including videos of young boys exposing themselves. At the time, he was an active-duty captain assigned to the 11th Cyber Battalion, U.S. Army Cyber Command.
But a search of his cell phone turned up much more than other people’s videos. It showed a personal video of Cushman placing his finger in the anus of a 16-year-old victim in Aiken County, a warrant says. The sex of the victim was not released.
“(He) knew or had reason to know the victim was physically helpless,” the warrant says. “The victim was unconscious, asleep, or unable to communicate an unwillingness to the act.”
Cushman is additionally accused of “touching and groping the victim’s buttocks, under the victim’s clothes” while the juvenile was helpless.
On Friday, he was re-arrested on charges of criminal sexual conduct, assault and battery in the first degree and two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree. He remained Saturday under no bond at the Aiken County Detention Center.
After his initial arrest July 15, a spokesperson for the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade said Capt. Cushman was an active-duty soldier. They referred inquiries to the sheriff’s office.
Their statement continued, “The U.S. Army remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding the highest standards of conduct and integrity. Allegations of misconduct are taken seriously, and the Army will fully support the appropriate authorities in their investigation.”
In his earlier arrest, Cushman was charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the third degree, Aiken County officers had received a CyberTip report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in reference to child sexual abuse material. Armed with a warrant, officers went to Cushman’s Fioli Circle home on July 15 and found child sexual abuse material images and a video on his computer.
Some of the images include still shots from a video showing young boys ages 11 to 13 exposing themselves. Another had a boy age 7 to 9 doing the same thing. Other images show a girl of the same age range nude and exposing herself. A video was also found of an unknown person touching a young boy’s genitalia.
In that case, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, S.C. Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon, which all have investigators assigned to the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and the Burnettown Police Department.
