A man received the maximum prison sentence after trying to molest a child in a Walmart bathroom in Greenwood, South Carolina, according to a prosecutor.
Tuesday, 52-year-old Donald Allen Morrison, a registered sex offender, of Trenton in Edgefield County pleaded guilty in a Greenwood County courtroom to a crime that Eight Circuit Solicitor Donald Stumbo called “predatory.”
In June 2019, Morrison attempted to bribe a young boy in a Walmart bathroom to touch him inappropriately, Stumbo said. He also tried to touch the boy. The boy refused and tried to get away, but Morrison held the boy and wouldn’t let him go until the boy threatened to tell his mother.
Greenwood Police Department officers were called and got a description of Morrison and the vehicle he was driving. Officers found Morrison driving near a different Walmart in Greenwood and pulled him over, prosecutors said, and he admitted to grabbing the boy.
Police found other items in Morrison’s car, including a carpet in the trunk, that led them to believe Morrison planned on abducting and transporting a person, according to prosecutors.
Police originally charged Morrison with kidnapping, attempted sexual assault and solicitation of a minor, according to court records.
Judge Donald Hocker sentenced Morrison to the maximum 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to third degree attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Morrison was already a registered sex offender after being guilty of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in 1993, according to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division records.
The latest case against Morrison was investigated by Lt. Martin Haralson of the Greenwood Police Department and prosecuted by Josh Thomas of the Eight Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Stumbo said “the great work” of Haralson and Thomas secured the conviction and lengthy prison sentence without the child victim having to take the stand to testify in court.
“A predatory pedophile like Donald Morrison belongs behind the prison walls so he will not be a threat to our children,” Stumbo said. “As we promised when I was first elected to this office almost 8 years ago, my office will continue to go to battle with our brave law enforcement officers to keep our families safe.”