Does Myrtle Beach man have to register as sex offender? He doesn’t think so
A Myrtle Beach man convicted years ago in Pennsylvania of charges related to minors is arguing that he shouldn’t be required to register as a sex offender in South Carolina.
Scott McCord has filed a civil action against the Horry County Sheriff’s Office and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division asking for a declaratory judgment regarding registering as a sex offender in the state.
A message left with McCord’s attorney was not returned before publication. A message also left for SLED was not immediately returned.
McCord was not required to register as a sex offender in Pennsylvania, according to his filing, after being convicted of corruption of a minor on March 21, 2021. He served six months in prison and then moved to South Carolina soon after being released.
The filing asks the court to decide whether his conviction would require sex offender registration under South Carolina’s applicable law instead of SLED’s “internal decision.”
After serving jail time, McCord was placed on probation and was required to have no contact with the victims. He transferred to Myrtle Beach, and upon his transfer, he was not required to register as a sex offender, the filing states. He has lived in Myrtle Beach for four years, where he has been in contact with his agent, the filing states.
However, this year, the Horry County Sheriff’s department threatened arrest if he does not register in Horry County, according to the filing. The sex offender registry is under the direction of SLED, which provided an opinion on the matter, while the sheriff’s department is in charge of gathering and maintaining information on citizens in Horry County who are on the registry and issuing warrants for those who fail to register.
McCord has filed for a temporary injunction against the requirement to register until his civil action has been heard in court.
Horry County Sheriff’s spokesperson Brennan Cavanagh said she could not comment on pending litigation, but did say that charges vary from state to state. And while a charge may be called something else in one state, it is the “same level of crime” in South Carolina, which means everyone must “abide by the same rules.”
When requiring a person with out-of-state-charges to register as a sex offender in the state, the sheriff’s department references the state statute that outlines when a person should register and what convictions qualify.
McCord is claiming that his conviction of corruption of a minor is equivalent to South Carolina’s law of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
According to Pennsylvania court records, McCord was originally charged with one count each of statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, and two counts of corruption of minors. On March 24, 2021, he pled no contest to one count of corruption of minors, and the prosecutor decided not to prosecute the remaining charges. On May 7, 2021, McCord was sentenced to 6 to 23 months in jail, followed by three years of probation. He was released after the court granted him time served.
McCord was accused of cultivating a relationship with his 14-year-old neighbor in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, from September 2019 to January 2020. He had extensive phone, social media and text messaging contact, as well as in-person meetings, with the girl and her two close friends, who were also teenagers, court documents state.
McCord allegedly began exchanging inappropriate photos with the teen, which were found on the juvenile’s phone, and he also requested and received suggestive photos of the children in various states of undress, according to court documents.
Throughout their contact, McCord is accused of engaging the teen in sexually explicit conversations, including discussing sexual fantasies that involved her two friends, court records said.
