Ex-military school dean in South Carolina faces sex offense charges involving a minor, according to SLED.
John Anthony Heflin, a former instructor and dean of students at Camden Military Academy, has been charged with multiple counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. The charges, which were released by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, include disseminating harmful material to a minor, second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under sixteen, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and third degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
The allegations against Heflin date back to 2014, when he was an instructor at the academy. According to the charges, Heflin reportedly committed sexual battery, including forced sexual intercourse, on an unnamed juvenile student.
In addition to these charges, Heflin was also a defendant in a 2017 lawsuit in federal court that alleged he preyed on a 14-year-old boy at the school. The lawsuit, which remains pending, accused Heflin of sending the boy hundreds of text messages and transporting him to his home. Camden Military Academy officials denied the allegations, stating they were groundless.
The charges from September 2021 are still pending in Kershaw County state court. Heflin is accused of urging a student to send a photo of his private parts to him via social media, providing the minor with alcoholic beverages prior to engaging in sexual conduct with the child, and providing a minor with pornographic material for the purpose of masturbating with the juvenile.
The 2017 lawsuit was settled in November 2018, but the settlement terms were not disclosed. The warrant in that case charged that Heflin had engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the juvenile for two years, between 2012 and 2014. Heflin is also accused of sexually battering a minor on multiple occasions while the student was under his care during the same time frame.
Camden Military Academy, a military-style boarding school in Camden, S.C., serving male students between grades 7 to 12, was founded in 1958.
It's important to note that parties in many kinds of federal court lawsuits are allowed to agree to secret settlements that prevent the public from finding out how much was paid to end the lawsuit.
This is a developing story and more information will be provided as it becomes available.
[1] South Carolina Law Enforcement Division press release, July 31, 2025. [2] Federal court lawsuit records, accessed August 1, 2025.
- John Anthony Heflin's charges from 2021 involve sexual misconduct allegations in the realm of mental-health, sexual-health, and general-news, as he is accused of urging a minor to send explicit content, providing alcohol to a minor, and supplying pornographic material for inappropriate purposes.
- In the year 2017, a federal court lawsuit, which remains unresolved, claimed that Heflin, while at Camden Military Academy, engaged in education-and-self-development-related activities that were inappropriate, such as sending hundreds of texts and transporting a minor.
- The health-and-wellness aspect is emphasized in the 2014 allegations against Heflin, which accuse him of sexual battery and forced sexual intercourse, creating a hazardous environment for the juvenile student under his care.
