Gregory Harold Hardee - Repeat Sex Offender - Kidnapper turned Peeper

A registered sex offender was arrested Tuesday after a woman said the man tried to look over a stall while she was using the bathroom at a welcome center in Little River, police said.

Bail was set at $15,000 Tuesday for Gregory Harold Hardee, 42, of Loris, on a Peeping Tom charge. Hardee is being held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

Hardee was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1998 after pleading guilty to kidnapping after he abducted a 28-year-old woman, according to the 15th Judicial Circuit. Hardee also was placed on the sexual offender registry as part of the plea.

A Daniels Island woman told officers Monday that she was in town for a fundraiser at the Vereen Memorial Gardens. The victim drove across the street to use the bathroom at the welcome center on U.S. 17, the report shows.

The victim told officers that when she closed the door to a bathroom stall another person entered the stall next to her. She said the suspect's feet were facing the toilet, the report shows.

The victim saw the suspect stand on the toilet and attempt to look over the top of the stall, the report shows. The victim fled the stall, walked to her vehicle and saw Hardee exit the restroom, the report shows.

An Horry County police officer found Hardee sitting in the front seat of his vehicle in the welcome center's parking lot. The officer learned Hardee was a registered sex offender.

Hardee denied entering the women's restroom when questioned by an officer.

The victim returned to the scene and identified Hardee as the man in the women's bathroom, the report shows.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte