Nancy Mace’s ex-fiance and two other men charged over sex attack the congresswoman detailed in House floor speech
Three South Carolina men have been charged in connection with an alleged sexual assault that Representative Nancy Mace described in a House speech in February 2025. State investigators allege that one man assaulted an incapacitated woman while Mace’s former fiancé and another associate watched, and say the case involves recordings and photographs of the incident.
John Douglas Osborne, 46, faces charges of first-degree assault and battery and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Patrick Bryant, 53, and Eric Bernard Bowman, 46, each face voyeurism charges; Bowman also faces obstruction of justice and publishing a victim’s name. Bryant denied the allegations when they were raised, saying he would cooperate with legal processes. Mace has since highlighted proposals she says would protect survivors, including a measure requiring people who bring and lose certain defamation cases to pay the defendant’s legal fees.
- Three men face charges over an alleged 2018 assault.
- Mace described the case in a 2025 House speech.
- Bryant denied the allegations; Bowman faces additional charges.
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Nancy Mace is a Republican member of the US House of Representatives from South Carolina. She has spoken publicly about an alleged sexual assault and has called for stronger protections for survivors. Her former fiancé, Patrick Bryant, and two other South Carolina men are among those charged in connection with the case.
The charges reflect investigators’ allegations about what happened and how images or recordings were handled; they are not findings of guilt. The case matters because it involves questions of sexual violence, privacy and the treatment of survivors, while Mace has also raised proposals about legal protections for people who speak publicly about abuse.