Dumfries officer’s efforts jail S.C. man

By Amanda Stewart

Published: June 20, 2008

A South Carolina high school teacher and minister who was arrested on child pornography charges was sentenced this week to 25 years in federal prison.

Dumfries police officer John Chapman headed the investigation that led to the arrest of Timothy Brumit, 48, of Aiken, S.C., who pleaded guilty in March at U.S. District Court in Alexandria to charges of enticement of a minor and transportation of child pornography.

At least 15 times in January, Brumit entered an Internet chat room to talk to Chapman, who was posing as a 13-year-old Stafford boy.

During the Internet chats, Brumit sent the undercover police officer more than 600 files containing graphic images and pornography, according to court documents.

In the chats, Brumit also asked the undercover officer to get a webcam and perform sexual acts.

At one point Brumit asked the fictitious 13-year-old boy to leave his family in Stafford and come live with Brumit in South Carolina. Brumit made plans to go to Stafford County to pick up the boy and bring him back to South Caro-lina.

In the last chat before Brumit was arrested in South Carolina on Jan. 24, he asked the undercover officer to bring his birth certificate, social security card and the laptop he had been using to communicate with

Brumit.

"You have to protect me ... so that there is NO trail to link you with me here," Brumit wrote in the chat, according to court

documents.

After serving 25 years in prison, Brumit will remain under court supervision for the rest of his life, according to court documents. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

In a letter to a judge at U.S. Court in Alexandria, Brumit, who was a high school teacher at the time of his arrest and who had previously served as a minister at several South Carolina churches, asked for mercy from the court.

He said he wanted to use his experience to keep others from committing similar crimes.

"I now believe God has called me to 'carry the torch' to fight on-line predators," Brumit said in the hand-written note. "Given the opportunity, I believe I can make a positive impact by sharing what has happened to me, and by offering guidelines and warning signs for protecting our children, and adults from these online criminal activities."

The case was investigated by the Dumfries police department and the FBI.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.