Horry County runs from the North Carolina line down the Grand Strand to Garden City, and one building in Conway holds every adult arrest made inside that boundary. The J. Reuben Long Detention Center is the county jail, and the Horry County Sheriff’s Office staffs its intake desk around the clock. This page covers the booking list, the way a Myrtle Beach entry is recorded, and where the court file continues after a release.
Conway sits where the Waccamaw River meets US-501, and the courthouse and the jail stand a short drive apart on that corridor. Coastal Carolina University and Horry-Georgetown Technical College put a student population in the same town, and the summer visitor count along US-17 lifts the booking volume well above what the resident population would suggest. A single intake point keeps the search simple, so a North Myrtle Beach stop and an Aynor stop land on one roster.
How to Search Horry County Arrests
Horry County criminal filings still land in the Public Index, but the route now starts at sccourts.org. The Judicial Branch homepage carries a Case Records Search link that hands the visitor to the index. The J. Reuben Long Detention Center list in Conway answers the custody question, and the index answers what happened to the charge, with county mugshots held on a separate page of their own.
The steps below cover a Grand Strand surname on the Horry index and the county jail roster in Conway.
Open the SC Judicial Branch site
- Open sccourts.org in a new tab: The branch home page, not the case index; keep the Conway roster nearby.
- Reach the Public Index: Choose Case Records Search; the county field opens blank for the Fifteenth Circuit.
- Set the county and the court type: Pick Horry, then General Sessions for a felony or Magistrate for a beach ticket.
- Search the surname: Start with the surname alone, then add the first name after the summer count.
- Try the spelling variants: Try a middle initial, a maiden name and a -sen ending beside -son.
- Read the row and compare the booking date: Take the filing date and case number, then check the Conway intake time.
- Ask the clerk and the jail desk: Call the clerk for the plea, the jail desk for custody and release.
Keep in mind: The roster shows the booking date, not the arrest date, and a Saturday night stop on Ocean Boulevard can appear under Monday. A name search misses a case filed under a variant spelling, so check the clerk’s index before you settle the question.
The Jail at Conway and the Sheriff Who Runs It
One facility holds every inmate arrested in the county, and that arrangement decides where a family starts a search. The building sits in Conway, a short drive from the courthouse square, and the sheriff’s office keeps the intake desk staffed through the night.
Jail and Who Runs It
The J. Reuben Long Detention Center is the county jail, and the Horry County Sheriff’s Office operates it under a contract with the county. Every municipal department on the Strand delivers prisoners there rather than holding them overnight in a city lockup. Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Conway, Surfside Beach, Loris, Aynor, Atlantic Beach and Briarcliffe Acres each book under their own name.
The state highway patrol adds entries from US-501 and the interstates, and state natural resources officers bring cases from the Waccamaw River and the waterway. A campus officer from Coastal Carolina University books there too. The agency column separates all of them on one list.
Booking and Intake Time
A routine booking runs one to three hours from the door to a cell assignment. Paperwork, fingerprints, a photograph and a medical screen happen in sequence, and any one of them can stall the line. Between June and August the queue stretches, and a Saturday night arrest on Ocean Boulevard can sit behind a row of patrol cars.
Transport adds time before the clock starts. A North Myrtle Beach stop at two in the morning reaches Conway after a drive down US-17 and SC-22, and a Little River arrest adds the length of SC-9. The roster prints the handover time, so a late arrest often lands under the next date.
Jail Records and Police Reports
The jail holds the charge, the bond and the identifying data, and it does not hold the narrative. A city department keeps the incident report, the body camera footage and the officer’s statement. A request sent to the wrong office comes back as a referral, and the reply clock starts again.
Towns That Feed the Horry County Roster
Eight municipalities sit inside the county line, and each one books under its own name. The town limit, not the ZIP code or the mailing address, decides which department responds and which municipal court hears a town charge. The table below covers the departments that produce the most entries.
Myrtle Beach and the Oceanfront
Myrtle Beach carries the largest volume in the county by a wide margin. The department covers Ocean Boulevard, the entertainment district and the commercial grid where US-501 meets the beach. Summer weekends produce alcohol, trespass and disorder charges in a cluster along the oceanfront blocks.
Myrtle Beach police keep a prisoner in a city holding area for a short time, then send the person to Conway. A weekend stop on Ocean Boulevard can show several hours between the arrest time and the booking stamp at J. Reuben Long. Myrtle Beach Municipal Court handles city tickets and misdemeanours, and those files stay with the town clerk.
North Myrtle Beach and Nearby Towns
North Myrtle Beach covers Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive and Windy Hill, and its officers work a summer crowd that arrives for shag dancing, fishing and the beach itself. Stops on US-17 and the side streets behind the oceanfront produce licence, registration and alcohol charges. Surfside Beach runs a small department south of Myrtle Beach, and Briarcliffe Acres is small enough that a serious call brings the sheriff or a neighbouring agency.
Conway, Loris, Aynor and Atlantic Beach
Conway is the county seat, and the Waccamaw River runs along the edge of the historic district. The city department covers the downtown grid, the riverwalk and the corridors that feed Coastal Carolina University, which runs its own police force. Loris sits inland on SC-9, Aynor sits on US-501 between Conway and the coast, and Atlantic Beach is a small oceanfront town whose calls often bring in the county.
Unincorporated Areas and the Sheriff
The Horry County Sheriff’s Office answers calls across Carolina Forest, Socastee, Little River and the farm roads near Green Sea, and it books those arrests in Conway under its own name. A community name in a news story never appears in the agency column. Garden City straddles the Georgetown County line, so the same beach community can book into two different jails.
| Town | Department on the roster | Town court | Main road |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myrtle Beach | Myrtle Beach Police Department | Myrtle Beach Municipal Court | US-17 |
| North Myrtle Beach | North Myrtle Beach Police Department | North Myrtle Beach Municipal Court | US-17 |
| Conway | Conway Police Department | Conway Municipal Court | US-501 |
| Loris | Loris Police Department | Loris Municipal Court | SC-9 |
| Aynor | Aynor Police Department | Aynor Municipal Court | US-501 |
The Fifteenth Circuit and Where Felony Cases Are Heard
Horry pairs with Georgetown in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and the solicitor’s office in Conway screens every felony warrant that comes off the detention center list. That review decides whether a charge is pursued, cut down or dropped.
Felony Cases in Circuit Court
General Sessions holds felony trials and serious misdemeanour pleas at the courthouse in Conway. A case that begins with a magistrate bond on US-17 can reach that docket months later. The solicitor steers the file through indictment and on to a plea or a trial.
A felony often opens with a bond hearing before a magistrate, then shifts to General Sessions once a preliminary hearing clears it. A drug charge from a Carolina Bays Parkway stop can follow that path for most of a year. The circuit covers Georgetown County too, so the same docket carries cases from the Waccamaw Neck.
How Charges Are Screened
The solicitor reads the warrant, the incident report and the criminal history before choosing a path. A first offence with a cooperative complainant often ends in a reduced charge or a diversion program. A repeat charge with a weapon attached usually goes forward as filed.
Cases Across the State Line
The North Carolina border runs along the northern edge of the county, and a stop near Little River can involve two states. A person arrested in North Carolina is held there, and the South Carolina roster shows nothing. Warrants travel between the two states through the respective sheriffs.
A federal charge from the coast goes to the federal courthouse in Charleston rather than Conway. A state expungement order has no effect on that file. The county index will not show the case at all, so a search there returns an empty result for a real prosecution.
Bond and First Appearance After a Conway Booking
Bond comes from a first appearance before a Horry County magistrate, and most intakes reach that room inside two days. The hearing covers identity, the charge, the conditions and the return date. A rally weekend stretches the docket, and a Saturday arrest can wait until Monday.
Inside the Bond Hearing
The magistrate checks the name against the booking record and reads the warrant aloud. The charge is stated as written, and the person is asked whether they have counsel. Conditions such as no contact with a complainant, a curfew or electronic monitoring can follow.
Magistrate offices sit in Conway and along the Strand, and the arrest location decides which one gets the file. A stop on SC-31 north of the waterway can land in a different office from one on US-501 at Carolina Forest. The return date goes on the release paperwork before the person leaves the room.
Release and Bond Options
Release takes one of four shapes. Personal recognisance costs nothing and rests on a signed promise to appear. A surety bond goes through a licensed bondsman who keeps a non-refundable share, and a cash bond needs the whole figure.
A no-bond order carries no amount at all and keeps the person inside until a judge reviews the file again. A bond posted on Friday afternoon often clears by that evening, yet one posted on Saturday can wait until Monday. The roster shows the amount and the release, and it does not show who paid.
| Release type | What it costs | Who arranges it |
|---|---|---|
| Personal recognisance | Nothing | The magistrate |
| Surety bond | A bondsman’s non-refundable share | A licensed bondsman |
| Cash bond | The full amount | The person or a family member |
| No-bond order | No amount is set | A judge at a later hearing |
Conditions of Release
A domestic charge or a repeat offence usually brings conditions that matter more than the figure. A no-contact order, a curfew, monitoring or a firearm surrender each carries its own penalty for a breach. A breach returns the case for a revocation hearing on the same charge rather than a new count.
What the Horry County Roster Shows and Hides
The list carries one row per booking, and a Conway city arrest sits beside a Surfside Beach arrest with the same set of columns. The table below names what each column settles and the point where it stops helping.
What the Roster Shows
The agency field points to the department that holds the incident report, so read it first. The statute number survives every rewording of the charge, and intake shorthand does not. A booking number marks one custody event and lets a clerk pull the paper file without a name search.
A dollar figure with no release date tells you the magistrate has set a sum and nobody has paid it. An empty bond cell points to a hearing that has not taken place, a frequent sight for an arrest along Ocean Boulevard after two in the morning. Check the entry again the next business day.
| Field | What it tells you | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The spelling intake recorded | Whether the warrant uses the same form |
| Booking date | When the jail took custody | When the officer made the stop |
| Agency | Which department holds the file | Which officer wrote the report |
| Charge and statute | The intake classification | What the solicitor filed later |
| Bond | An amount, a release or a hold | Whether the money was paid |
| Photograph | A face at intake | Guilt or outcome |
What the Roster Leaves Out
The public record names no complainant, no street address and no medical finding. Juvenile custody stays confidential, and no case outcome appears at all. The entry cannot tell you whether a charge was dropped or tried. A mugshot shows a face at intake and says nothing about guilt.
Warrant numbers and court dates are often missing on the first day. A search that needs a case number should start with the clerk’s index in Conway, and darlington county arrests settle a stop that began inland. The jail answers custody questions, and the court answers everything after intake.
How Long Entries Stay Posted
The county posts bookings on most business days, and a weekday arrest usually appears within hours. Weekend intakes batch, and a rally weekend can push the list two days behind. A search run on Sunday morning often misses a Friday night arrest at the beach.
Once someone is released, the entry disappears within days, sometimes before a relative thinks to check. The facility keeps its own record far longer, and the clerk keeps the case file longer still. Save the booking number and the photograph as soon as they appear.
Keep in mind: A roster entry records custody at intake and nothing more. Only the clerk’s file in Conway shows a plea, a dismissal or a sentence, so order the disposition before treating the booking as a result. A dropped charge still leaves a booking line behind.
Town Dockets That Never Reach the County Index
Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Conway, Surfside Beach, Loris and Aynor each hold a municipal docket for ordinance tickets and misdemeanours filed inside the town. A case heard in one of those rooms can open and close with no line on the Horry County index. That gap explains many empty results for a charge that was filed and settled.
Town and Municipal Courts
Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Conway, Surfside Beach, Loris and Aynor each keep a municipal docket. A city case stays at city level, and the town clerk holds the only file. The fine is set by the town, and the town collects it.
Most town charges start with a citation, not a trip to the jail, so the Conway roster never lists them. A shoplifting summons at a Surfside Beach store can end in a town fine and leave no county record. Call the town clerk with the citation number before you decide that no file exists.
Where a Ticket Is Filed
Myrtle Beach, Conway, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach each hold their own ordinance files. The town clerk in the town that wrote the citation keeps the ticket, the docket sheet and the fine receipt, and that office sets its own copy fee. Carry the citation number to the counter when the paper is still to hand.
A town conviction can be appealed to the Court of General Sessions in Conway. The appeal opens a fresh county case number, and that second number explains why a Myrtle Beach citation sometimes surfaces in the index long after the ticket date. Horry keeps the original town file regardless of the appeal.
Roads That Produce the Most Grand Strand Bookings
Six numbered roads account for most of the traffic arrests booked at Conway, and each one leaves a different mark on the roster. US-501 and US-17 carry the beach volume, and SC-9 and SC-905 handle the inland farm traffic.
Stops on US-501 and US-17
US-501 runs from the North Carolina line through Conway to the beach, and it is the main inland artery. Its four-lane stretches produce speed and following-distance stops, and the Carolina Forest section carries commuter traffic all year. A Friday afternoon collision there can add a licence or insurance charge to the report.
US-17 follows the coast through Little River, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach, and it carries the heaviest summer traffic in the county. A Friday night on the boulevard produces more alcohol charges than any other road. The US-17 Bypass runs inland of the beachfront and moves traffic around the busiest blocks.
Stops on SC-31 and SC-22
SC-31, the Carolina Bays Parkway, links the North Carolina line with the southern Strand, and it carries fast traffic with few cross streets. SC-22 runs from Conway toward the coast and connects with SC-31. Both serve as evacuation routes when a hurricane order goes out.
Westbound traffic on US-501 and SC-22 thickens during an evacuation, and the state may reverse lanes to move cars inland. Fuel theft, traffic offences at blocked intersections and curfew violations follow. A curfew charge is a misdemeanour filed in magistrate court.
Stops on SC-9 and SC-905
SC-9 runs inland through Loris and Longs toward the North Carolina line, and it carries truck traffic and farm equipment. A stop there often involves registration, insurance or an equipment violation rather than a moving offence. SC-905 covers the Green Sea and Nichols side of the county.
The Intracoastal Waterway bridges funnel traffic onto a handful of crossings, and a collision on one sends cars onto side streets for hours. Those detours push traffic through residential blocks and produce a run of stop-sign and registration charges. Summer Saturday afternoons are the worst window.
Search Mistakes to Avoid on Horry County Records
Most failed searches come from a handful of habits rather than a missing record, and each one has a fix that takes a minute. The mistakes below appear most often at the Grand Strand intake desk. A wrong assumption about which office holds the file costs more time than a misspelled name.
Search Mistakes to Avoid
A search built from a full name and one date misses an entry filed under a middle name or a variant spelling. Run the surname alone first and count the results. Then add the first name, the birth date and the agency.
Intake records what the identification card shows, and a family may use a different form at home. A maiden name, a hyphenated surname or an initial in place of a first name all produce a blank result. Try each form before you stop.
Booking Date and Arrest Date
The booking date is not the arrest date, and the drive to Conway adds an hour or more from the north end of the Strand. A Friday night arrest can appear under Saturday or Monday. Search a window of several days rather than a single date.
A Garden City arrest can book in Georgetown County, and a stop near Little River can end in a North Carolina jail. A Myrtle Beach ordinance charge stays in city court and never reaches the county index. A bond figure with no release date means the money is still unpaid, not that the person walked out.
Records Requests and the Documents Behind a Booking
The arrest record behind one booking splits into three documents, and each has its own office, its own request route and its own copy charge. Send each one to the office that created it, since a misdirected request restarts the reply clock.
What a Booking Request Covers
The detention center answers a written request for jail bookings with the custody entry, the charge at intake and the release date. Copy fees are set locally, and the office quotes the current rate when it logs the request. Counter inspection is usually free.
Ask for records rather than the front counter. The records staff keep the booking file, and a shift supervisor can confirm custody after hours. A phone answer covers custody and release only, and it never covers a charge or a bond.
Police Reports and Fees
The agency named in the roster column holds the narrative, the officer’s name and any property seized. A written request under the state records law draws a reply within ten days. A city department and the sheriff each run their own records desk.
A request sent to the sheriff for a Myrtle Beach report comes back with a referral. The ten-day clock starts again at the next office. Address the request to the records custodian by title, and keep a copy of the letter.
Court Records and Case Files
The Horry County clerk of court in Conway keeps the warrant, the docket sheet and the disposition. The clerk releases copies on request, and counter inspection is usually free. A certified set carries a page fee plus the seal.
Bring the case number where one is known, since the clerk searches by that rather than by booking number. A disposition letter from the clerk settles a question that the roster cannot. Order it before a background check for a job or a housing interview.
After the Search: Saving the Paper Trail
A search answers one question at one moment, and the paper trail keeps moving after that. A few habits keep the file usable months later, whether the charge ends in a dismissal, a plea or a trial date. Each one takes only a minute at the desk.
Details Worth Copying
Write down four items before you leave the screen: booking number, case number, arresting agency and the next court date. The jail tracks a person by the booking number, and the clerk tracks the charge by the case number. A records clerk at J. Reuben Long cannot pull a file from the clerk’s case number.
Keep every bond receipt and every release sheet in one folder. A bondsman’s share is not returned when the case closes, and the receipt settles any later argument about the amount. A certified disposition from the Horry County clerk is worth ordering once the charge ends.
Tracking a Case Online
The clerk’s index carries a Horry County case from warrant to disposition, and it works from any browser. A search there by name and county returns the docket, the filings and the outcome. The jail roster covers only the first night.
A dismissal or an acquittal opens the fastest removal route in the state. The application goes to the Fifteenth Circuit solicitor in Conway, and Section 17-1-40 sets no waiting period at all. A first offence closed by conditional discharge sits under 22-5-910 instead, and the clock runs three years from the plea or the sentence.
Contact Information
Call J. Reuben Long Detention Center for custody and release, the sheriff for the incident report, and the clerk of court for the case file.
Sheriff’s Office
Horry County Sheriff’s Office
1301 Second Avenue, Conway, SC 29526
(843) 915-5450
Detention Center
J. Reuben Long Detention Center
4150 J. Reuben Long Ave, Conway, SC 29526
(843) 915-5140
Clerk of Court
Horry County Clerk of Court
1301 Second Avenue, Conway, SC 29526
(843) 915-5080
Frequently Asked Questions
Four questions cover the Horry County ground: where a Myrtle Beach arrest is booked, how fast the Conway roster posts, which court keeps a Conway ticket, and what a bond amount at the jail really shows. The sheriff answers custody, and the clerk on the Conway square answers the charge.
Which building in Conway takes a Myrtle Beach arrest?
Myrtle Beach police hold a prisoner briefly, then move the person to the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway. Several hours can pass between the stop and the booking time.
How fast does the Horry roster post a weekend arrest?
Weekday intakes appear within hours. Weekend bookings batch, and a rally weekend can leave the list two days behind, so a Sunday search can miss a Friday arrest.
Where does a Conway city ticket get heard?
Conway Municipal Court handles city ordinance violations filed inside the limits. A town case can open and close without a line on the county index, and the town clerk holds the file.
What does a bond amount at J. Reuben Long actually mean?
It is the figure a magistrate set, not proof of payment. Read the release column beside it, since the roster never shows who paid or when the money cleared.
Where does a Garden City Beach arrest get booked?
Garden City straddles the Georgetown County line, so the address decides the jail. A stop on the Horry side books at the Horry County jail in Conway, and a stop on the Georgetown side books into that county’s jail. Check both rosters before you decide the record is absent.
Arrest records are public information and describe an allegation, not a conviction. Every person is presumed innocent until a court finds otherwise. This site is not a consumer reporting agency.