Registered sex offender has had charges across 3 states. Latest in North Myrtle Beach
Briarcliffe Acres Police Chief Kyle Lamparter was going about his day on June 30 when he was asked by North Myrtle Beach Police to be on the lookout for a man named Blaine Zdybel.
That kind of request wasn’t anything new. Law enforcement agencies across the Grand Strand are used to working together when it comes to finding or arresting someone. So, when a car came through the small town with a license plate registered to someone with the same name, Lamparter stopped the vehicle. The interaction was completely ordinary and peaceful, Lamparter said.
But the 43-year-old driver wasn’t someone who just happened to be passing through the neighborhood. Zdybel lived in a Briarcliffe Acres house estimated to be worth $4.4 million, and since 2017, he’s been listed on South Carolina’s sex offender registry.
Officers arrested him during that June 30 traffic stop on suspicion of stalking a 15-year-old in North Myrtle Beach.
It wasn’t his only arrest. Days earlier, he had been arrested in another Horry County city on suspicion of observing intimate areas of a Goodwill employee in the store’s bathroom.
Through police reports and court records, The Sun News found that in the past 10 years, Zdybel has been charged and convicted of criminal sexual conduct across multiple states. In several of those cases, he faced charges involving minors.
North Myrtle Beach is investigating the stalking allegastion against Zdybel. No other updates on the case have been provided, and Zdybel is being held at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center. Information about Zdybel’s defense attorney in the case was not immediately available to The Sun News.
Before Zdybel’s arrest at the end of June, state records show that he lived in one of Myrtle Beach’s most coveted communities.
The Town of Briarcliffe Acres stretches for a mile along the coast. Located just south of North Myrtle Beach’s city limits and near Barefoot Landing, the town had 527 residents in March 2025. In 2023, Forbes named it the sixth-richest city in South Carolina.
What happened in North Myrtle Beach
A day before police arrested Zdybel in Briarcliffe Acres, a 15-year-old boy was riding his bike home from work around 3:15 p.m. in North Myrtle Beach when he told a firefighter someone had been following him.
North Myrtle Beach Police claim the person following the boy was Zdybel.
A little before 10 a.m., on June 29, the boy was riding his bike to work in the area of Highway 17 South when Zdybel allegedly started following him in his vehicle, according to police.
Once the boy arrived at work, police say, Zdybel entered the business and interacted with him, made a purchase and then left. That afternoon, as the boy was riding his bike after work, Zdybel allegedly followed him again. The 15-year-old took evasive measures, traveling through several side streets and parking lots before finding the firefighter. Police said that when Zdybel saw the firefighter, he fled the area.
Following its investigation, North Myrtle Beach Police, in a post on Facebook, said Zdybel had been charged with stalking. Online bookings list Zdybel as being charged with second-degree harassment.
Other recent charges
The North Myrtle Beach incident is not Zdybel’s only recent run-in with law enforcement. On June 24, he was charged by Conway Police with voyeurism/violating a place of privacy and with disobeying a police officer; Zdybel was out on bond.
According to an arrest warrant issued April 30, Zdybel is accused of repeatedly observing the intimate areas of an unnamed male without his consent in the bathroom of a Goodwill in Conway between April and June 2026. The person told police he met Zdybel while previously working at a North Myrtle Beach Goodwill.
Zdybel had “not only stared while standing at the urinal but would also look over the top of the restroom stall wall while the victim was inside the stall,” according to the warrant.
Conway Police arrested Zdybel after receiving a call related to an assault on June 24 at the Goodwill on 2913 Church St. When officers arrived, the person accusing Zdybel told police that Zdybel was in a silver Honda Accord, according to a police report. Zdybel left the scene, and officers conducted a traffic stop on his vehicle on El Bethel Road in Conway.
Officers arrested Zdybel, according to the report, who was released on June 26 after paying a more-than-$4,000 bond, The Sun News previously reported.
It’s unclear when Zdybel will have to appear in court for his charges in Conway and in North Myrtle Beach. If he’s convicted of voyeurism, he could face up to three to five years in prison, depending on the severity of the charge. If he’s convicted of stalking, he would also face up to five years in prison.
Zdybel’s criminal sexual history
Zdybel previously has been arrested in connection with other criminal sexual charges in South Carolina, North Carolina and Illinois.
He was first placed on South Carolina’s sex offender registry in 2017 after he pleaded guilty to indecent exposure. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
In North Carolina, in 2020, he pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent liberties with a child in Pender County. Zdybel was sentenced to a minimum of 19 months with a maximum of 32 months per count.
It’s unclear what exactly happened leading up to those charges from the Pender County Sheriff’s Office. Court documents show that the offenses took place in 2015 and 2018 and that Zdybel was accused of taking “immoral, improper and indecent liberties” with a person under the age of 16 for “the purpose of arousing and gratifying sexual desire.” At the time of the incident, Zdybel was in his mid-30s.
He was charged in December 2018 with two counts of statutory sex offense with a person aged 13-15, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, one count of resisting a public officer, one count of indecent liberties with a child and one count of a crime against nature.
However, Zdybel was given a plea deal and allowed to only plead guilty to indecent liberties with a child.
After he was released from prison, Zdybel was required to register as a sex offender for 30 years as a part of his probation, court documents show.
In Illinois, Zdybel was charged in 2015 in St. Clair County, with five criminal misdemeanors, including two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of indecent solicitation of a child. It’s unclear where the case stands. The Sun News was not able to obtain more information on the case from the county clerk’s office.
Who maintains SC’s sex offender registry?
After someone becomes a registered sex offender in Horry County, they’re required to register bi-annually or quarterly, depending on the charges.
Horry County has more than 600 active sex offenders, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Brennan Cavanagh wrote in a statement to The Sun News. While the Sheriff’s Office conducts mandatory address verifications to ensure information is accurate, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division manages information obtained through the registration process and updates the registry.
Sex offenders are also required to provide their place of employment. A spokesperson for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division told The Sun News that Zdybel works as an administrative assistant with a Southeast hospitality management company.
After Zdybel was released from prison in North Carolina, he was put on probation and had to register again in South Carolina. The Sheriff’s Office was notified by North Carolina authorities of Zdybel’s intent to move back to Horry County.
The South Carolina Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole Services monitors Zdybel and reports back to North Carolina, Cavanagh said. The Sheriff’s Office informed the department of the new charges against Zdybel after they were filed, she said.
Arrest leaves community with questions
In its initial Facebook post announcing Zdybel’s arrest, North Myrtle Beach Police said it was seeking information from anyone who “may have had a similar encounter with Zdybel.”
Myrtle Beach-area residents commented on the Facebook post, sharing that their family had similar situations with Zdybel, adding that the incident with the 15-year-old teen in North Myrtle Beach wasn’t isolated. However, none of these accusations have apparently led to additional charges against Zdybel.
North Myrtle Beach Police spokesperson Desirae Gostlin did not comment on whether the department has received any information regarding other people’s potential encounters with Zdybel.
“This is an ongoing active investigation,” Gostlin wrote in a message to The Sun News.
Investigators are asking anyone with more information to contact the North Myrtle Beach Police Department at 843-280-5511. Individuals wishing to remain anonymous may submit tips to the North Myrtle Beach Tipline 843-447-9376.
Zdybel remains at J. Reuben Long Detention Center, where he is being held without bail.
