The men Rep. Nancy Mace called out by name on the House floor are now facing criminal charges. Patrick Bryant, Mace’s former fiance, along with associates John Douglas Osborne and Eric Bernard Bowman, were charged Wednesday with sex crimes and voyeurism connected to a 2018 assault the South Carolina congresswoman described in a nearly hourlong speech last February.
According to sworn statements from agents with South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division, Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman while Bryant and Bowman watched. The woman had fallen into a pool and was passed out on a couch. The men reportedly discussed who would assault her beforehand, then photographed and recorded the attack, which was also captured on a home security feed at a Sullivan’s Island residence, an upscale suburb of Charleston.
A second woman happened to be watching the security feed during the assault, took pictures of what she saw, and documented it in a journal. Mace and Bryant were not yet engaged when the October 2018 incident occurred. Nancy Mace ex-fiance sex crimes charges details how the charges connect directly to what Mace described from the floor of Congress.
Osborne, 46, faces first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Bryant, 53, and Bowman, 46, are each charged with voyeurism. Bowman picked up extra charges: obstruction of justice after allegedly doing a factory reset on a cellphone investigators had sought in a search warrant, and publishing the name of a sexual conduct victim after posting her name and a video on X. That is a special kind of reckless, even by the standards of people who thought none of this would ever catch up with them.
Bryant had denied everything when Mace first went public. “I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name,” he told the Associated Press at the time. He didn’t return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Mace said in her February 2025 speech that she “accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable,” describing “rape, non-consensual photos, non-consensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls” in her district. She gave that speech because she believed crimes against women were not being investigated thoroughly. Turns out she was right, and then eventually wrong, because investigators did catch up.
After Wednesday’s arrests, Mace released a statement touting 25 bills she says will protect victims of sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination, including protections against retaliatory defamation lawsuits filed against accusers. She also introduced a proposal this week requiring anyone who brings such a lawsuit and loses to pay the defendant’s attorney fees. “Protecting women and holding predators accountable isn’t a slogan. It’s been one of my top priorities in Congress,” Mace said.
Mace is leaving the House after losing her bid for South Carolina governor, so she is going out swinging. The State Law Enforcement Division has not said whether its investigation into any of the three men is ongoing, which means this story may not be finished yet.
