Deputies investigate convicted sex offender

Columbia County deputies are seeking more information about a man they say did not register as a sex offender when he moved to the area from North Carolina earlier this year.

Louis Michael Evans, 41, was first arrested by Columbia County deputies July 21 and charged with theft by taking. At the time, police didn't know he had been convicted of several sex crimes in North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry, Evans was released from prison Dec. 5 after being convicted on four counts of indecent liberties with a minor in 1994.

After finding that out - and realizing he hadn't registered - they arrested him last week and charged him with failure to register as a sex offender, a felony.

Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said the man has been in the area for several months, living in the Belair/I-20 area, western Columbia County and Lincoln County.