Former Aryan Nation leader charged with sexually assaulting child

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A man identified by a civil rights advocacy group as a "hot-tempered, longtime white supremacist and Christian Identity minister", was arrested by Richland County deputies Tuesday and charged with sexually assaulting a child under the age of 12.

August Byron Kreis, 59, was officially charged in Richland County with second degree criminal sexual conduct and disseminating obscene material to a child. Kreis has also been charged with criminal sexual conduct in Lexington and Kershaw counties.

Kreis was arrested after the mother of the victim filed a report against him. Sheriff Leon Lott said a thorough investigation discovered Kreis had sexually assaulted the victim and provided obscene material for about three months.

Kreis was arrested on South Beltline Boulevard and immediately taken to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

As for the other parts of Kreis' personal life, the Southern Poverty Law Center has an extensive dossier on the 59-year-old, saying he has engaged in very little activism in recent years due to deteriorating health and even left the leadership of the Aryan Nation.

Kreis was most recently sentenced to six months in jail in 2011 and ordered to pay back over $193,000 that federal prosecutors said he received improperly from a federal pension, according to a report from the Associated Press.

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