News 12 at 11 o'clock, October 9, 2007

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C.---His name is David, and he's 45 years old. He's the one who broke the case against former North Augusta Planning Commission member Edward Meloan wide open.

David lives out of state now, but he grew up in North Augusta. He says he was just an average kid.

"Later in life, the demons of being molested, low self esteem, started catching up with me. The older I got the worse I got."

David says over the past four years, his life started spiraling out of control; there were suicide attempts. He lost everything. "I had lost my 16 year marriage. My home, children, job reputation--everything. I lost everything and I was in a rehab center."

And so in February of this year, David called his hometown police department North Augusta Public Safety. He had to tell what he knew about a childhood he could not forget.

"I'ts kind of weird to be 12, 13, 14, on a bicycle going to play basketball, then later I'm in his home having sex, watching porn. Then an hour later, on my bike trying to think what I would tell my mom about the last 30 minutes. It's bizarre."

Finally, the day came when investigators arrived at David's home. "With a criminal profiler, two SLED agents, recording equipment, and we called Ed on the telephone and he confirmed everything and within 10 days he was arrested."

How did Ed Meloan win the trust of children? Remarkably, David says Meloan is a nice guy. "He's just a nice guy. He did wrong things but he got you an an early enough age. When it happened, you were so young it wasn't bizarre yet; you hadn't been taught this doesn't happen, that doesn't happen."

But it did happen, and it was wrong. And now Ed Meloan, a man who used to introduce scary movies on TV sitting in a coffin and wearing a cape, will die in prison.

"I think this is justice for Ed Meloan, because I would imagine at his age, 74, he probably thought he would get away with it."