FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) walks offstage to speak to reporters after a press conference put on by House Oversight Committee Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., May 10, 2023. REUTERS/Craig Hudson/File Photo
Rep. Nancy Mace's (R-SC) former fiancé now faces criminal charges over an assault she laid out in a stunning House floor speech.
Patrick Bryant and his business associate Eric Bernard Bowman were charged with voyeurism on Wednesday, while a third man, John Douglas Osborne, was charged with first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, the Associated Press reported. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division brought the charges.
According to sworn statements from state agents, Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old woman in October 2018 at a home on Sullivan's Island, a wealthy Charleston suburb, while Bryant and Bowman looked on. Agents said the woman had fallen into a pool and was unconscious on a couch, using a pillow to cover herself, when the attack took place.
Investigators said the men discussed beforehand who would assault her and then photographed and filmed it. The home's security system also captured the attack. A different woman who happened to be monitoring that feed saw what was happening, snapped pictures and recorded it in her journal, according to police.
Bowman faces an additional obstruction of justice charge. Agents said he factory reset a phone he knew investigators were trying to obtain through a search warrant, and that he posted the victim's name along with a video of her on X.
Mace and Bryant were not yet engaged at the time of the assault. In February 2025, Mace spent nearly an hour on the House floor naming the men and describing photos and videos she said she found on Bryant's phone while they were together.
She told colleagues she had "accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable."
Bryant flatly denied the accusations at the time. "I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name," he told the AP at the time. He did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, and attorneys who have represented Bowman and Osborne in other matters did not immediately respond.
Mace is leaving Congress at the end of her term after losing her bid for South Carolina governor.
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