Authorities said Vancleave met and befriended the four boys while a member of Pavilion Ministries, an evangelical church in Cayce. Vancleave did not maintain contact with the four boys after he moved from Cayce to West Columbia in 2007, and was no longer is a member of Pavilion Ministries at the time of his arrest.



Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said Vancleave was a camping enthusiast, and that was how he lured his victims. It was also alleged that Vancleave abused the four boys at his former home in Cayce.



The Cayce Department of Public Safety, Lexington County Sheriff's Department and SLED conducted a joint investigation of the allegations. It was then that the alleged abuse in Barnwell County came to light.



Before his arrest, Lexington County School District Two employed Vancleave as a substitute teacher at elementary schools and in an after-school program at Brookland-Cayce Grammar School.