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South Carolina authorities charge 3 men accused by US Rep. Nancy Mace of sex crimes in 2025 speech

Joseph Bustos, The State (Columbia, S.C.) on

Published in Political News

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Three of the four men accused by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of sexual misconduct during a 2025 House floor speech have been charged by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, according to a news release.

After an investigation that took more than a year, John Osborne, Eric Bowman, and Patrick Bryant, Mace’s former fiancé, were charged with sexual related offenses, SLED said.

Osborne, 46, of Charleston, was charged with assault and battery and criminal sexual conduct. Bowman, 46, of Sullivan’s Island, was charged with voyeurism, obstruction of justice and publishing the name of a victim of criminal sexual conduct.

Bryant, 53, was charged with voyeurism.

All three men were taken to the Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County. The case will be prosecuted by the 9th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, SLED said in a news release.

According to the warrants, a 23-year-old woman on Oct. 26, 2018, was so intoxicated she fell into the swimming pool at a Sullivan’s Island residence. She took off her clothes except for her bra, was unable to speak normally or cogently, and used a pillow to cover her lower body. She later passed out on a sofa in the house.

The three co-defendants discussed sexual exploits before agreeing that “Osborne would have sex with the victim.”

In the warrants, Osborne is accused of unlawfully touching the private parts of a 23-year-old woman who did not consent. He also allegedly committed sexual battery by “digitally penetrating” and performing oral sex on the woman who was unable to consent to sexual activity after she consumed alcoholic beverages with the men, SLED said.

“A witness watching a home security video feed observed the incident and obtained and saved two still photographic images from the video feed,” the warrant said. “The witness also created an e-mail/journal entry detailing the incident from her perspective.”

The warrants say Bowman and Bryant viewed the woman’s naked body and the nonconsensual sexual battery and touching of the woman’s private parts “for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.”

 

SLED also accused Bowman of obstruction of justice after a phone the agency wanted to review underwent a factory reset on March 23, 2025, removing its data.

In February 2025, Mace spoke on the U.S. House floor to accuse the three men and one other man of the crimes. It was six months before she launched her campaign for governor and she used the speech to accuse Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office of not prosecuting the case. At that time, the case was under investigation by SLED and not referred to any prosecutor’s office.

The fourth man accused by Mace was not charged. He sued her last year, but the case was thrown out.

Mace said she had more than 10,000 videos she had discovered after she was given access to her former fiancé’s cell phone. She said she discovered nonconsensual photos and videos of women and underage girls undressed, and video of a rape of an unconscious woman, as well as a video of herself naked.

Mace eventually finished fifth in the Republican primary for governor and endorsed Wilson ahead of the runoff. He eventually won the GOP nomination for governor.

In a news release Wednesday following the arrests, Mace touted efforts to protect victims of sexual assault, crack down on voyeurism and digital exploitation, and to increase punishments for sexual predators. She did not specifically acknowledge the arrests.

“Protecting women and holding predators accountable isn’t a slogan. It’s been one of my top priorities in Congress. For too long, survivors have faced broken systems while predators exploited loopholes and walked free,” Mace said in a statement. “Every survivor deserves to be heard. Every victim deserves justice. Every predator deserves accountability. We will not stop fighting until our laws put victims first and predators behind bars.”

_____


©2026 The State. Visit at thestate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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