Rep. Nancy Mace’s ex-fiancé and associates charged with sex crimes and voyeurism
Por Riley Hoffman — – World RSS Feed
Rep. Nancy Mace’s ex-fiancé and associates charged with sex crimes and voyeurism
After the arrests, Mace released a statement detailing the 25 bills she says will protect victims of sexual assault
Riley Hoffman Wednesday 14 October 2026 14:18 EDT
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Rep. Nancy Mace‘s former fiancé and two other men were charged with sex crimes and voyeurism on Wednesday after the South Carolina congresswoman accused them of being sexual predators during a House speech last year.
Mace’s ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant and his business associate Eric Bernard Bowman watched as John Douglas Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman, according to sworn statements by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division, which brought the charges.
The three men talked about who would assault the woman beforehand, took photos and recorded the assault, which was also seen on a security system feed at the home in Sullivan’s Island, a suburb of Charleston, according to state agents.
The woman had fallen into a pool and was passed out on a couch covering herself with a pillow, agents said.
Another woman who happened to be watching the feed saw the assault and took pictures and wrote about it in a journal, police said.
Mace and Bryant were not yet engaged at the time of the October 2018 assault.
During a nearly hour-long speech on the House floor last year, Mace described how crimes against women are not investigated thoroughly. Mace said she was speaking out because her home state’s top prosecutor didn’t take action even after she alerted investigators.
Mace detailed how, in November 2023, she says she “accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable. We’re talking about rape, non-consensual photos, non-consensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls in my district.”
Osborne, 46, is charged with first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bryant, 53, and Bowman, 46, are each charged with voyeurism.
Along with the voyeurism charge, Bowman was also charged with obstruction of justice after agents said he did a factory reset on a cellphone he knew investigators were seeking in a search warrant, and with publishing the name of a victim of criminal sexual conduct after posting the victim’s name and a video of her on X.
At the time of Mace’s 2025 speech, Bryant completely denied the allegations. “I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name,” he told The Associated Press.
After the arrests, Mace released a statement detailing the 25 bills she says will protect victims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination, including in retaliatory defamation and libel lawsuits that may result from allegations they bring to light.
The Republican, who is leaving the House this term after losing her bid to be South Carolina governor, introduced a proposal this week to require that anyone who brings such a case and loses must pay attorney fees for the defendant.
“Protecting women and holding predators accountable isn’t a slogan. It’s been one of my top priorities in Congress. For too long, survivors have faced broken systems while predators exploited loopholes and walked free,” Mace said in her statement.
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Nancy MaceSouth Carolinasex crimesvoyeurism
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