BEAUFORT, S.C. (Oct. 16, 2023) – A Hilton Head Island man who had sex with two 12-year-old victims – one from Aiken and another from Arizona – has been sent to prison.
Timothy Mikell Schultheis, 25, pleaded guilty as indicted Monday in Beaufort County General Sessions Court to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He also pleaded guilty to one charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for an offense that occurred in Aiken County.
Schultheis received the 20-year maximum sentence for each of the criminal sexual conduct charges and three years for the delinquency charge. The sentences are to be served concurrently. He also received permanent restraining orders that bar him from contact with any of the three victims in these cases.
“Timothy Schultheis used social media to lure underage victims, who he used for his sexual gratification,” said Julie Kate Keeney of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case. “He is a predator, pure and simple, and his hunting grounds were not confined to the Lowcountry or to the internet. Fortunately, he will be spending a lot of time behind bars.”
In September 2020, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a missing 12-year-old girl from Aiken County believed to be with Schultheis on Hilton Head Island. Schultheis answered the door at his apartment and told deputies the girl had just departed with his roommate. However, officers saw the girl exiting the defendant’s bedroom.
Schultheis and the girl had been communicating on Facebook, and he picked up the girl and her 10-year-old sister at their residence in Aiken and brought them to Hilton Head. He had sex with the older of the two girls in his bedroom while the younger girl was also in the apartment.
While out on bond following his arrest in connection with the Aiken victims, Schultheis went to Arizona to pick up a second 12-year-old. He brought her to Beaufort County and had sex with her, as well.
Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down the sentence.
Schultheis also faces related charges in federal court. Like all defendants, he is innocent of those charges until and unless proven guilty in court.
Keeney is the lead administrative assistant solicitor in Colleton County and also prosecutes cases for the Solicitor’s Office Special Victims Unit. She has 11 years’ experience as a prosecutor.
