CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Two people have pleaded guilty and two others will appear in court at a later date in the case of four alleged child molesters in Horry County.
The four suspects were arrested in March 2016 after Horry County police learned of extensive, and disturbing, sexual assaults being committed on two children over the course of a five month span.
Lt. Mark Bonner with Horry County police said detectives received information on January 25, 2016 of sex crimes committed against two young children. Detectives spoke with the children and learned that they were being sexually abused by their parents and friends of their parents.
Forensic interviews of the children revealed that the sex crimes occurred at multiple locations in Horry County, according to Lt. Bonner.
In an incident report from Horry County police documenting the abuse, officers note that they spoke with an individual who stated she had been providing counseling to the young victims since May 1, 2015, after a Department of Social Services investigation revealed the children were “being forced to have sex with their siblings and their parents.”
During the investigation, detectives learned that some of the sexual assaults took place in Horry County at a location the victims referred to as “the dance club.” That location was later identified as Chez Joey, a strip club located at 716 Seaboard Street in Myrtle Beach, according to the report.
The report details how the children would go to work with Lindsey D. Honeycutt, one of the four alleged child molesters, who was a dancer at Chez Joey. While at the club, the children were forced to perform different sex acts, the report states.
Police say they later learned during the investigation that the sexual assaults occurred at three different locations in Horry County, namely, the Myrtle Beach home of one of the suspected child molesters, Panteleimon Spirakis, Chez Joey strip club, and a second home in Myrtle Beach. Arrest warrants for the four suspected of sexually abusing the children specify the addresses where the abuse reportedly occurred as: 407 Queens Road, 808 North 48th Avenue and 716 Seaboard Street, all located in the Myrtle Beach area.
Lindsey D. Honeycutt, 31, of Myrtle Beach, is charged with criminal sexual conduct with minor in the first degree, sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree, engaging a child for sexual performance, and incest.
Ambrose E. Heavener, 32, of Conway, is charged with criminal sexual conduct with minor in the first degree, sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree, engaging a child for sexual performance, and incest.
Panteleimon N. Spirakis, 57, of Myrtle Beach, is charged with criminal sexual conduct with minor in the first degree, sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree, and engaging a child for sexual performance.
Anthony L. Strickland, 47, of Myrtle Beach, is charged with criminal sexual conduct with minor in the first degree, sexual exploitation of a minor in the first degree, and engaging a child for sexual performance.
A press release from the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office says two of the suspects pleaded guilty to charges on Tuesday.
Spirakis pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of engaging children for a sexual performance, and one count of first degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to the release. Spirakis pleaded guilty after a jury was selected Tuesday morning to hear the case and prosecutors made no recommendation in the case for his plea. Circuit Court Judge Larry B. Hyman presided over the case. Hyman sentenced Spirakis to serve 17 years each on the criminal sexual conduct with a minor charges and 17 years each on the engaging a child for sexual performance, with all of the sentences running concurrently. Spirakis was also sentenced to three years on the sexual exploitation charge, which will be served consecutively to the other charges. He is not eligible for parole on the offenses.
The release also says Spirakis was previously convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2008 and was a registered sex offender at the time of the incidents.
“The crimes this defendant perpetrated on these children were some of the worst we have ever seen,” Leigh Andrew, an assistant solicitor, said in the release. “He robbed them of an innocence that they will never get back.”
Honeycutt also pleaded guilty to charges in the case on Tuesday, according to the release. She pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and battery of a high an aggravated nature, which is a lesser included charge of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, and two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child. Honeycutt faces up to 20 years for each of the assault and battery charges and up to 10 years for the unlawful conduct charges.
The release adds that Honeycutt has not been sentenced yet because she has agreed to testify in the cases of Heavener and Strickland. Their trials will be scheduled for a later date.
WBTW News13 will provide updates on-air and online as they become available.
