Convicted sex offender eludes police for 8 years, arrested

By Brittany Whitehead

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    SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (WLOS) — A convicted sex offender who moved several times and failed to register his place of residence since 2016, having eluded authorities in North Caroline and South Carolina, was located and arrested in Spartanburg County, S.C., on Friday.

After the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registry Unit received a tip that convicted sex offender Rudolph Wiley Lindsey, 54, was working at an industrial business in Duncan, S.C., the unit obtained an arrest warrant on Lindsey for registry violation. In the early morning hours of June 28, the unit was able to locate and arrest Lindsey without incident on failure to register charges.

Lindsey was originally convicted on Aug. 8, 2007, of committing or attempting to commit a lewd act with a minor in Charleston, S.C., and his confirmed last registration was in Union County, S.C., in May 2016. From there, he reported to them he was moving to North Carolina but he never registered there.

Only one other agency — in Rutherford County, N.C. — has attempted to pursue Lindsey since 2016, but he successfully managed to elude them as well.

North Carolina filed charges against Lindsey in 2016 for failure to register, and it wasn’t until Feb. 25, 2021, that he was picked up on a warrant for fugitive from justice in Spartanburg County.

“The Spartanburg County Sex Offender Registry Unit is appreciative of the help given by private citizens to capture a sex offender who has been absconded for quite some time,” the unit said in a news release.

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