U.S. Marshals Arrest Child Sexual Predator

Columbia, SC – The U.S. Marshals Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force (CRFTF), in coordination with the Lexington Police Department and Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office, located and safely arrested on Feb. 21 a man wanted by the Lexington Police Department for sexual crimes involving a child.   

Taz Michael Johnson, 27, was wanted for sexual exploitation of a minor, criminal solicitation of a child, and two counts of unlawful dissemination of obscene material to a child.  

Johnson is a prior sexual offender, having been arrested in September 2019 and prosecuted for sexual misconduct with a minor and disseminating obscene material to a child. 

CRFTF investigators determined that Johnson had fled the Lexington area and was hiding out in the Winnsboro area. Investigators narrowed their search and developed information that Johnson was renting a room at the Winnsboro Motor Inn Motel.  

Johnson was arrested at that location and transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center.   

The U.S. Marshals Service CRFTF began operations in January 2018. The CRFTF has partnership agreements with four federal and 68 state and local agencies and operates throughout North Carolina and South Carolina to locate and apprehend fugitives, with priority given to fugitives wanted for violent crime.  The CRFTF has apprehended more than 8,900 fugitives since its inception and is always striving to make communities safer.