SC DAILY GAZETTE
A Nigerian man was charged Monday with sexually exploiting a legislator’s child over social media, causing the 17-year-old to kill himself.
Hassanbunhussein Abolore Lawal, a 24-year-old from Nigeria, is suspected of posing as a young woman on Instagram in 2022 in order to coerce Gavin Guffey, as well as several other people, into sending him explicit photos. Lawal then threatened to leak those photos unless Guffey continued to send him money, prosecutors said in a federal arraignment hearing Monday.
Guffey died by suicide July 27, 2022, because of those threats.
“It’s a special day to know that we’re going to get some type of justice, that we’re beginning that fight,” said his father, Rep. Brandon Guffey, R-Rock Hill, who was first elected to the House months later.
After Gavin Guffey’s death, Lawal kept demanding money from his cousin, brother and father in exchange for not releasing Gavin Guffey’s nude photos. Lawal threatened to ruin Brandon Guffey’s political career and embarrass the family, prosecutors said Monday.
Instead, Guffey made it his mission to prevent other children from becoming victims. The Legislature passed Gavin’s Law, named after Guffey’s son, in 2023, which bans sexual extortion, or “sextortion.” Guffey still wears a button on his lapel that shows the last text his son sent: <3. (Two characters that form a sideways heart.)
Lawal faces federal charges of child exploitation resulting in death; child pornography distribution; coercion and enticement of a minor; cyberstalking resulting in death; and interstate threats with the intent to extort. If convicted, Lawal could face up to life in prison.
Investigators found texts on Lawal’s phone that was sent to the Guffeys and at least nine other people, six of whom were minors, prosecutors said.
“The facts of this case I think are every parent’s worst nightmare,” said federal magistrate Shiva Hodges, who is overseeing the case…
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