The S.C. Department of Corrections is searching for an inmate who walked away from the minimum security Coastal Pre-Release Center in Charleston, on Monday. Vernon Edward Gardner, 42, was discovered missing from the institution about 12:30 p.m.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has unveiled a new Web-based system for tracking registered sex offenders.

The search is on for a man suspected of shooting a North Augusta Department of Public Safety officer. He was shot while chasing a suspect near Bradleyville Road, in North Augusta. The suspect has been identified as Timothy Houston. NOON UPDATE: Officer Kevin Hayes is resting at home after being treated and released at MCG. The reason for the pursuit was because the car had plates on it that didn’t belong on the suspect’s car. Several law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation, including the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

SLED serves 14 warrants in month-long forgery investigation in Aiken County

The ongoing budget fight between Gov. Mark Sanford and state lawmakers took on a new focus Monday: security. Standing outside an empty guard post on the edge of the Statehouse grounds, Gov. Sanford said Statehouse security spending in the Senate budget is just one example of inefficiency and waste. WJBF News Channel 6’s SC Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

According to SLED spokesperson Jennifer Timmons, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is charging an Aiken County Detention Center inmate with the death of a fellow inmate. Andrew Nathan York, 37, of the 300 block of Outing Club Road, in Aiken, SC is accused of Murder.

Two children are dead and two more are hospitalized in Augusta after a house fire in Greenwood County, South Carolina. Greenwood County officials identified the victims as 3-year old Arian Makins and 4-year old Alisha Makins. They were pronounced dead at the scene. UPDATE: The two children and their mother are still in critical condition at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center, at Doctors Hospital.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has made two arrests in the murder of Christopher Dorch.

According to Aiken County Coroner Tim Carlton, the decedent from Friday morning’s shootout with Aiken County Sheriff’s Office deputies has been positively identified as Ronald Hamilton Jr., 26, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

According to Lt. David Turno, officers from the Aiken Department of Public Safety (ADPS) responded to call from the homeowner at 288 Sand Fox Place in Aiken, about 4:50 p.m., Wednesday afternoon.

According to Lt. Michael Frank, as a result of a two-month undercover drug investigation, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with other local and state agencies, arrested 30 people, early Friday, at a home at 155 Kip Road, in North Augusta, South Carolina.

A North Augusta police officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a civil rights complaint that was filed after a 2007 police chase.  The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said today the case was closed because the alleged victim refused to cooperate with state investigators.  The case was originally filed by Joseph Williams.  Williams claimed officer Robert Bell struck him in the mouth with a gun during a June 18, 2007 arrest.

SLED hotline leads to additional charges against former school administrator, Stephen Coke Eubanks

According to Josh Gelinas, with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC), a minimum security inmate who walked away from his work assignment Tuesday, at Columbia Farms in Greenville, has been taken into custody. About 2:50 p.m. Wednesday, Joe Dean Bellis, 39, was spotted traveling in an automobile with two other men along White House Road, in Greenville.

According to Josh Gellinas, with the S.C. Department of Corrections, a minimum security inmate walked away from his work assignment at a farming facility in Greenville, S.C., on Tuesday. Joe Dean Bellis was confirmed missing from Columbia Farms at 1354 Rutherford Road, about 10:20 a.m. Bellis is serving a four-year sentence for grand larceny at the minimum security Livesay Correctional Institution, in Spartanburg, S.C.