Members of a U.S. Marshal’s Service task force arrested a Hartsville man Wednesday on a three-year-old warrant charging him with failure to register as a sex offender.

A Lamar man has pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender.

South Carolina solicitors asked state lawmakers in May to reduce the penalty for convicted sex offenders who fail to register the first time with their sheriff’s offices. Under current law, offenders must serve 90 day sentences for failing to register.

In June, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford signed a sex offender law that sets rules on where offenders cannot live. The law also lessens the penalty for offenders who fail to register annually.

In June, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill into law that prohibits convicted sex offenders from living near places children frequent. The law also reduces the penalties on sex offenders for failing to register with county sheriff’s offices.

A News13 investigation uncovered dozens of convicted sex offenders missing in the Eastern Carolinas and several more registered in places you wouldn’t expect to find them. Our investigation exposes loopholes in the system that has allowed some offenders to remain undetected for years.

A popular misconception is that South Carolina sex offenders cannot participate in Halloween traditions like trick-or-treating where children and convicted sex offenders could come face-to-face. Only a small portion of the state’s convicted offenders are prohibited from participating.