Lowcountry man accused of taking 12-year-old Arizona girl to S.C. home indicted in federal court

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - A Beaufort County man who is accused of taking a 12-year-old girl from Arizona to his home in South Carolina has been indicted in federal court.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said a grand jury indicted 24-year-old Timothy Mikell Schultheis on transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and FBI agents arrested him in March for the incident. He was originally arrested in 2020 in connection with the kidnapping of 10 and 12 year old sisters from a home in Aiken County, and was charged with sexually assaulting one of them.

The indictment on his latest charges state that on March 20 Schultheis transported a 12-year-old girl by taking her from Arizona to South Carolina with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

“The indictment further alleges that Schultheis traveled in interstate commerce from Arizona to South Carolina for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with the minor,” officials with the attorney’s office said.

According to the complaint filed last month, the 12-year-old was reported missing after she left her home on the morning of March 20, 2022 and did not return.

Authorities say the child’s Facebook account revealed communications with Schultheis, including his plan to travel from South Carolina and pick up the child in Safford, and his intention to engage in sexual conduct with her.

“When Schultheis was arrested at his apartment in South Carolina on March 30, 2022, Jane Doe was found in the apartment,” officials with the attorney’s office said.

Schulthies out on bond for 2020 offenses

Schultheis had been originally arrested in 2020 in connection with the kidnapping of 10 and 12 year old sisters from a home in Aiken County, and was charged with sexually assaulting one of them.

On Sept. 18, 2020, Aiken County authorities contacted the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office regarding two sisters, 10 and 12 years old, who had been kidnapped from their Aiken County residence.

Sheriff’s office deputies identified the subject as Schultheis, who at the time resided at the Spa apartments on Hilton Head Island. Deputies then went to Schultheis’s apartment and made contact with him.

A report states that at Schultheis apartment, deputies found the 12-year-old girl and learned that Schultheis had previously driven her 10-year-old sister back to Aiken County, where he dropped her off at a church close to her home.

“The 12-year-old girl was evaluated at the Hilton Head Hospital, where it was disclosed that she had been sexually assaulted by Schultheis,” the sheriff’s office said. “Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested Schultheis and charged him with Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor 2nd Degree.”

He was taken to the Beaufort County Detention and incarcerated. Schultheis posted bond and was released that same day.

Investigators say they had also obtained a warrant to search Schultheis’s apartment.

In Schultheis’s apartment, investigators reported locating and seizing a mobile telephone and other electronic devices, which were subjected to forensic analyses.

“As a result of those analyses, on December 22, 2020, Schultheis was arrested and charged with three counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor 3rd Degree and one count of Unlawful to Disseminate Obscene Material to a Person under 18 years of age,” the sheriff’s office said.

Again, Schultheis posted bond and was released from the Beaufort County Detention Center the following day, BCSO officials said.

“As a condition of his bond, Schultheis was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet,” the sheriff’s office said. “Schultheis electronic monitor was on his ankle at the time of this morning’s arrest.”

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