Three Years Later, Charges Arrive in the Case Nancy Mace Argued on the House Floor
South Carolina's State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced Wednesday that it had arrested and charged three Charleston County men over an incident at a Sullivan's Island residence on Oct. 26, 2018. The defendants are John Douglas Osborne, 46; Brendan Patrick Bryant, 53, the former fiancé of U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace; and Eric Bernard Bowman, 46. All three were booked into the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County and appeared at bond hearings the same morning.
According to SLED arrest warrants and affidavits, Osborne faces one count of first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bryant is charged with voyeurism. Bowman faces voyeurism, obstruction of justice, and publishing the name of a victim of criminal sexual conduct. The obstruction charge concerns a phone investigators sought under a search warrant: agents say the device was factory reset on March 23, 2025, wiping its data. The publishing charge relates to the victim's name and a video of her being posted on X.
Sworn statements by SLED agents describe a 23-year-old woman who drank alcohol, fell into a swimming pool, and later passed out on a sofa wearing only her bra; she was, the affidavits say, unable to speak cogently or walk normally. The agents allege the men discussed who would assault her before Osborne performed oral sex on her and touched her while Bryant and Bowman watched. Investigators say the encounter was photographed and recorded, and was also captured on the home's security camera feed.
The charges closely mirror accusations Mace made in a 53-minute House floor speech in February 2025, when she swore on a Bible and named four men — displaying their names, photographs and hometowns on a placard headed "PREDATORS." She said she had accidentally uncovered roughly 10,000 videos and photographs on Bryant's phone in November 2023, describing rape, nonconsensual images of women and underage girls, and what she called the calculated exploitation of women in her district. "The purpose of my speech tonight is to make sure these women will never be forgotten," she said at the time.
Brian Musgrave of Fort Mill, the fourth man Mace named, was not among those charged. He sued her for defamation in 2025; a judge dismissed that suit in August 2025 on the grounds that the Justice Department, representing a member of Congress acting within official duties, can proceed without her consent — a ruling that did not resolve whether the statements were defamatory. All four men denied the allegations when contacted by The Post and Courier after the speech.
In a written statement, SLED said its investigation opened on Dec. 14, 2023, after it was contacted by U.S. Capitol Police, and that its subject was Patrick Bryant. The agency described the inquiry as complex, involving multiple interviews and search warrants, and said the case will be prosecuted by the 9th Circuit Solicitor's Office. Bryant and Bowman each received a $50,000 bond, while Osborne's bond was set at $75,000; all three posted bond and were released.
Bryant's attorney told CNN that Bryant "adamantly denies" the allegations and believes the "case should be contested and presented in the courtroom," calling Mace's floor speech "full of falsehoods and blatant inconsistencies." Attorneys for Osborne said in a statement that he "is innocent of the charges brought against him and intends to defend himself vigorously."
The gap between the December 2023 opening and the October 2026 charges spans nearly three years. In her 2025 speech, Mace accused SLED and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson of delaying the investigation; at that point the case was still under SLED investigation and had not been referred to any prosecutor. The speech came about six months before she launched her campaign for governor. She finished fifth in a six-candidate Republican primary, later endorsed Wilson, and he went on to win the nomination. Mace is leaving the House at the end of this term.
In May 2025, an unidentified woman sued Bryant, Osborne and Bowman, alleging they sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious at the 2018 gathering. She had been working for Bryant at the time and said she only learned of video of the incident through Mace in 2024. Mace's congressional office also said Bowman was arrested in April 2025 on first-degree stalking and harassment charges. After the arrests, Mace released a statement listing 25 bills she says would protect victims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination, and she introduced a proposal this week requiring anyone who brings such a case and loses to pay the defendant's attorney fees.
All three men are out on bond, and the case now sits with the 9th Circuit Solicitor's Office, which will decide how the charges are formally pursued. Expect the evidence fight — the factory reset phone, the security footage, the provenance and completeness of the recordings — to dominate pretrial proceedings. For Mace, the arrests offer partial corroboration of claims she made from the well of the House, but not a verdict; the fourth man's defamation litigation and her own legislative proposals will keep the argument running through civil and political venues long after the criminal docket moves.