‘Couldn’t get any answers’: Horry County woman upset after children’s father mistakenly released from jail

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — An Horry County woman is upset after the father of her children was mistakenly and briefly released from jail due to a clerical error.

Ryan Schneider was released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center Sept. 3 after a clerical error was signed off on by Judge David Caraker, who handwrote the sentencing numbers.

Schneider, 31, was convicted on charges of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, first-degree assault and battery and second-degree burglary. He was arrested on March 31.

Schneider was originally supposed to be sentenced to three years in jail suspended to two years in jail, along with five years of probation. However, initially, the sentencing sheets mistakenly had a two-year jail sentence suspended to three years of probation, meaning he would’ve avoided prison time as long as he didn’t violate his probation.

The mother of his children, Christian Stroud, said the community should have been notified that a prisoner was released by mistake. Now, she wants answers.

“I expected that he would have to go back to jail because there was that original sentence, and we knew it was a mistake whenever he was released,” Stroud said. “But I just, I couldn’t get any answers as to why, how he was released, where was the error made.”

Stroud explained how she was notified about Schneider’s situation.

“I went to work for the rest of the day, and I got a call from his attorney, asking if I had talked to Ryan. And I said ‘no, not since court,'” Stroud said. “And he said ‘OK, well, the jail has released Ryan by mistake.’ I asked him, how did that happen? And he said ‘I don’t know.’ And then he basically was like, I need to get a hold of Ryan or the U.S. Marshals were going to come after him.”

Stroud said she raises her children to know they can trust the authorities to keep the community safe, but she said she doesn’t know how to explain to them why Schneider was mistakenly released and feels that she deserves answers, too.

The representative from the clerk of court’s office said the error has been corrected.

News13 reached out to the South Carolina Judicial Branch, but as of Tuesday evening, we have not heard back.

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Carly Knowlton is a multimedia journalist at News13. She graduated from Penn State University in May 2024 and joined the News13 team in July 2024. Carly is from Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Follow Carly on Instagram , and read more of her work here .

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