CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – This Halloween, children across Horry County will go house-to-house asking for candy, but what if the stranger behind the door is a sex offender?
The Horry County Sheriff’s Office is in charge of tracking the estimated 565 sex offenders in the county and keeping their addresses up-to-date year-round.
“The sheriff’s office works around the clock to make sure citizens are informed and that we know our surroundings and the individuals that may live nearby, and so it’s important for citizens to check on their neighbors and get to know the people in your neighborhood, that’s really where it starts,” Brooke Holden with the Horry County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office wants to remind parents of its online sex offender registry where users can enter an address and see the registered sex offenders who live or work within a certain radius.
“It is year round that we work constantly to verify these addresses and make sure that the information is correct and accurate. The sheriff’s office requires an actual address, a physical address that our deputies are able to verify and able to drive to that physical location and verify that individual resides there,” Holden said.
A South Carolina curfew requires sex offenders to turn their outdoor lights off and only answer their doors for law enforcement during trick-or-treating hours this Halloween.
If parents are still unsure if sex offenders live in their trick-or-treating neighborhood, click here for the Horry County Sheriff’s Office’s registry.
