Crime & Public Safety

Former Beaufort probation officer charged for allegedly having sex with parolee

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Breaking news The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette

A former Beaufort probation, parole and pardon services officer was charged Wednesday with three counts of misconduct in office, according to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division arrest warrants.

David Johnathon Shytle Jr., 48, of Beaufort, is accused of having relationships with parolees that include having sex and sending inappropriate images and messages through texts.

He was also accused in 2025 of having inappropriate relationships with parolees.

The warrants, dated July 1, 2026, allege Shytle engaged in relationships with parolees “willfully, unlawfully and maliciously.”

The arrest warrants claim:

  • From May 2024 until July 2025, Shytle allegedly had sexual intercourse with a parolee and sent that person inappropriate text messages and images while he was “acting in the official capacity as a probation officer.”
  • From July 2024 to August 2024, he allegedly sent inappropriate text messages to a parolee while again “acting in the official capacity as a probation officer.”
  • From September 2024 until February 2025, Shytle is accused of having an “inappropriate relationship” that included sending text messages. In this case, he was also “acting in the official capacity as a probation officer.”

Shytle was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center.

In August 2025, he was also charged by SLED with two counts of assault and battery - second degree and five counts of misconduct in office. In that case, a lawsuit was filed against Shytle and the state agency he worked for, according to previous reporting by The Island Packet.

Jessaca Giglio
The News & Observer
Jessaca Giglio is a McClatchy Flex Editor and Pulitzer Prize Finalist who started at The N&O in 1994. Since then, she’s been planning and enterprise editor, breaking news editor, sports editor, assistant metro editor, retail columnist, small-business editor and assistant design editor. She is a graduate of Campbell University.
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