COLUMBIA — 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>
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.
Law enforcement brought Lawal from Nigeria to the United States on Saturday. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty, for which Lawal would be eligible, in exchange for Nigerian authorities handing him over, said prosecutor Elliott Daniels.
Lawal potentially worked with other people, but officials declined to give any more information, saying those investigations are ongoing.
Bringing a suspect from another country is a rare and complicated process, in which two governments must agree on charges and other specifics of the crime, said Steven Jensen, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Columbia office.
Authorities have brought people from Nigeria to the United States in at least two other cases involving sexual exploitation, but this was the first in South Carolina, said U.S. District Attorney Adair Ford Boroughs.
That South Carolina officials were able to track down Lawal and bring him stateside to face charges is a testament to their determination to get justice for Gavin Guffey and show potential perpetrators how serious they are about these crimes, Boroughs said.
“I hope the message is clear: If you use the internet to exploit children in our state, you will be held accountable in our courts,” Boroughs said. “We will not allow predators to hide behind a keyboard or across an ocean.”
Calls for stricter laws
In the years since Gavin Guffey’s death, Rep. Brandon Guffey has fought to combat not only sextortion but other cyber crimes.
Gavin’s Law, which was signed in May 2023 after unanimously passing both chambers, makes it illegal for anyone to demand something in exchange for not releasing their nude photos.
The state law did not have any bearing on Lawal’s case. He was charged under federal law because the use of social media crossed national borders. But Gavin’s Law and the publicity around Gavin Guffey’s death likely saved countless other teenagers’ lives, said Mark Keel, chief of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
“We will never know how many kids the Guffey family has saved in their passionate pursuit of justice for Gavin,” Keel said.
While Lawal’s arrest is a step toward justice for Gavin, officials must do more to protect children, Guffey said.
Between January and October 2024, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children received more than 456,000 reports of online enticement, which includes sextortion. That was an increase from 186,800 in 2023, according to the national nonprofit.
SC stands alone in not criminalizing ‘revenge porn.’ Some legislators hope to change that.
While federal and state law allowed Lawal to be charged, there is more work to be done to strengthen those laws, Guffey said.
For instance, social media websites are not required to do anything to prevent or address exploitation on their platforms, he said. After Gavin Guffey’s death, Instagram did not take down the account that had exploited him, allowing that person to continue contacting Guffey’s family, the state representative said.
Congress could help by passing a proposal dubbed the Kids Online Safety Act, Guffey said.
The bill passed the Senate 91-3 in July but never made it to the House floor before the last Congress adjourned, meaning the legislative process has to start over. It would make social media platforms legally responsible for protecting children on their apps and websites from sexual exploitation, among other harms.
State and federal laws also do not address images created by artificial intelligence, which can create fake nude images that can be used to exploit people, Guffey said.
Legislation to restrict deepfake porn in South Carolina passed the state Senate last year but failed in the House.
“What happens if those images that were used to extort Gavin were completely AI?” Guffey said. “Then those federal charges don’t work quite the same.”
Aside from more legal protections, the best thing parents can do is talk to their children about dangers on the internet and what to do if someone does try to exploit them, Guffey said.
In the years since Gavin’s death, Brandon Guffey has traveled the state, speaking to parents and teenagers about exploitation. Many parents in similar situations tell him they had no idea what was happening until it was too late, he said.
“The crime just targets your deepest, darkest shame, and kids don’t feel like there’s another way out,” Guffey said.
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