The quiet of Friday afternoon, July 20, in the town of Edgefield was interrupted by a burst of sirens as police officers converged on the Edgefield Discovery Center. Reports came into The Advertiser office that “every police car in town” was seen there with descriptions depicting officers searching under of the Discovery Center.

The Advertiser has learned that all the commotion involved a parolee who was supposed to be detained to serve out an ordered sentence but was instead released due to a mishap in paperwork. The man, who was in court on parole violations, was supposed to be remanded to the Edgefield County jail to serve a five year prison sentence, but the parole office had not sent the proper paper work citing this to the jail at the time of the man’s release.

A spokesperson with the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office was adamant that there was not an error on the part of the Edgefield jail; they followed all proper procedures with the information that had available at the time.

Details are still emerging as to why the correct paperwork was not given to the jail. We will continue to up-date this story as warranted.

The man released is not considered violent and is believed to no longer be in the area. When the true nature of events unfolded, the search for the parolee was called off.

Probation officers will now be responsible for relocating him.