Sex offender pleads guilty to failing to register

A Lamar man has pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender, U.S. Attorney W. Walter Wilkins said in a press release.

Terry Dials, 30, was convicted in Darlington of committing a lewd act on a minor in 1993. He registered as a sex offender for the first time in March 1997, and last registered as a sex offender in March 2002. He admitted leaving South Carolina in 2005 without notifying authorities, failing to register in other states where he resided, and failing to register in South Carolina when he returned in February. He was arrested in Lamar in May.

U.S. District Judge R. Bryan Harwell will sentence Dials later. Dials faces a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the Darlington County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William E. Day II of the Florence office prosecuted the case.