MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Police have arrested 32-year-old Paul Joseph Shuler of Myrtle Beach and charged him with criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping after he met a woman who responded to his Craigslist ad and reportedly sexually assaulted her.
According to Raul Dennis of the Horry County Police Department, the arrest stems from an incident on July 9 when a 20-year-old female, a foreign student working in Myrtle Beach for the summer, reported that she answered an ad on Craigslist looking for models.
She met with Shuler at a Myrtle Beach restaurant and agreed to meet him the following day for a photo shoot. They met the following day and traveled together to a hotel room on Shore Drive where he asked to take pictures of her in a bathing suit. When she refused, he falsely identified himself as an immigration agent, threatened her with deportation, handcuffed and raped her.
According to the police report, Shuler then told the victim that is she told anyone, his “law enforcement friends would find her” and also sexually assault her.
Horry County Detectives investigated and quickly closed in on Shuler. He was arrested without incident and transported to the Horry County Detention Center.
Shuler was out on bond for several previous charges.
News 13 obtained an arrest warrant on Shuler from March 2014, in which an 11 year-old victim claims Shuler had been touching her private areas over a period of time before eventually raping her.
Shuler was charged with second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He was released on $15,000 bond. The case was supposed to be tried back in April, according to Solictor Jimmy Richardson. The judge granted Shuler a continuance.
Months later in June 2014, Shuler was arrested on charges of third degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. This time the alleged victim was 13 years old. She told police she was given alcohol and a white pill before Shuler forcibly touched her.
Shuler was later released on $10,000 bond.This case is also pending.
Public reports show he was arrested again that same month for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and was released on $20,000 bond.
Paul Shuler remains in J. Reuben Long Detention Center. Prosecutors said the magistrate can’t grant him bail since he’s already awaiting charges on a previous violent crime. Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said he could get out if his attorney requests a bond hearing through the circuit court. Richardson hopes to have him on the stand by this fall.