Lawsuit: South Carolina Department of Social Services

From Richland County, South Carolina, foster parent Gregg Martin, was arrested for “over a dozen sex crime charges since 2022, allegedly groomed his victim, pumped her full of drugs and mentally and physically abused her for six weeks, the lawsuit says.”

“Martin, 56, was arrested by the Richland County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina as recently as March on warrants for alleged sex crimes against a minor in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

The Peach State criminal charges include use of computer services to seduce, solicit, lure or entice a child to commit illegal acts; electronically furnishing obscene material to minors and obscene internet contact with a child. That brings the total of criminal charges to 14 in South Carolina, most of which stem from the alleged abuse of the teenager in his care in 2022, plus at least three in Georgia, according to court records.

A judge revoked Martin’s bond in mid-April, and he’s being held in a Richland County jail. His lawyer couldn’t be reached for comment.

The teenager was initially removed from her home by the Department of Social Services as it investigated allegations of abuse and neglect against the girl’s father.

She was sent to live with Martin, who was family of the victim’s best friend, despite her mother’s objections, according to a lawsuit filed in South Carolina in February by the Foster Care Abuse Law Firm.

But the victim’s family believed it couldn’t say no after Protective Services allegedly “threatened” to place her in foster care and essentially strong-armed them into signing a safety plan.

A safety plan, also known as an alternate living arrangement, typically places a child with another relative or close family friend during an abuse investigation, one of the family’s lawyers, Robert Butcher, explained to Fox News Digital.

In this case, the state placed her in the hands of Martin for about five to six weeks.

During that time, no one from the agency checked on her, according to the lawsuit, which allowed Martin to allegedly shoot explicit photos of his victim and abuse her, Debra Butcher said.

“DSS (Department of Social Services) not once came out to that home,” Butcher said. “All these five weeks or so, her mom kept saying, ‘My husband can move out of the house. We can put her with a relative. We put her with a neighbor. … We don’t want her to stay there [in the Martin home].'”

This was even before the criminal allegations bubbled to the surface.

Texts between the mom and a caseworker, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, allegedly show how hard the teen’s mom fought to get her daughter back.

In multiple texts from late February to mid-March 2022, the victim’s mom said her daughter’s father would move out if her daughter could return home. She also left voicemails, Debra Butcher said.

“I have been trying to communicate with you since 2/23 and have not yet heard from you,” the mom texted the caseworker. “Is everything ok? I’m concerned by the lack of communication.”

Another week passed without an answer. Again, the victim’s mom texted the caseworker and begged her to respond.

“I don’t understand the delay in this and why no one is calling us and responding to our requests,” her mom said in a text.

After about a dozen messages — most of which went unanswered — the caseworker said they couldn’t remove the victim from Martin’s home because the paperwork was already signed.

About six weeks after protective services left the victim with Martin, a new caseworker took over and moved the child out of Martin’s house, Debra Butcher said, and the victim and her mom were finally able to talk “freely.”

The trauma still haunts the victim more than two years later.

“She spoke about this, probably two weeks ago. And when she finished, she had to get up and leave and was in tears and shaking,” Debra said. “It’s still very traumatic for her.”

South Carolina agency gave child to ‘monster,’ according to lawsuit
[Fox News 5/26/24 by Chris Eberhart]

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