Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham's decision allowed for the eventual release of Kenneth Glenn Hinson, who was being sought by authorities Thursday in connection with the rape of two teenage girls in an underground room behind his Hartsville home.

Cottingham said he didn't see probable cause that Hinson, who was convicted in 1991 of raping a 12-year-old girl, had a mental or personality abnormality that might lead him to offend again.

Cottingham, a retired but active judge, did not immediately return a message Thursday.

Hinson, now 47, was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and served just over 9 years in prison, according to his file with attorney general's office. If he had been ordered to the state rehabilitation program, he would have stayed at a secure facility even longer. However, most of those recommended to the program ultimately are not committed to it.

Anyone convicted of a sexually violent crime is automatically recommended to the sexually violent predator program, which is run by the Department of Mental Health, according to Chief Deputy Attorney General John McIntosh. But several steps must occur before being someone is placed in the program.

Two different committees reviewed Hinson's case and recommended him for the rehabilitation program shortly before his release from prison on October 18, 2000.

A five-member committee of state officials, a defense attorney and a judge found there was cause for an exam by a legal committee appointed by the attorney general. On Feb. 15, 2000, the second committee also found that Hinson suffered from a mental disorder and might be likely to reoffend.

At that point, the attorney general's office asked that Hinson be committed to the program.

But Cottingham dismissed the petition, writing in his Oct. 16, 2000, order that the appeal had "failed to demonstrate that probable cause exists to find that the respondent suffers" from mental incapacity and the capability to sexually offend sometime in the future.

Since the law creating the program was enacted in 1998, the Multi-Disciplinary Review Team had screened 3,232 individuals and referred 817 of those to the prosecutor's Review Committee, according to Trey Walker, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office. Of those, 103 individuals were eventually committed to the program, 29 of which have since been discharged.

John Hutto, a spokesman for the Department of Mental Health, said there are currently 67 residents in the program receiving anger management treatment, as well as group and individual therapy. But Hutto said the program is outgrowing its facility at a maximum security prison in Columbia.

"The census is growing, but the space is not," Hutto said. "We're working with the Department of Corrections to figure out what to do."

When Hinson was released from prison, he registered as a sex offender and last reregistered in October, according to Celeste Proffitt of the State Law Enforcement Division.

There are currently 8,840 registered sex offenders in South Carolina, Proffitt said, and it's up to individual offenders to reregister once a year with local authorities.

Proffitt said SLED is not required to notify anyone that a registered sex offender might be moving nearby or working at a business in the area.

"We just have that information on our Web site," she said. "We get a lot of positive feedback from the public and from employers who are checking to see if they have sex offenders working for them."

During a visit to the rehabilitation facility at Broad River last summer, McMaster said he got positive feedback from participants. "I think all of them said they thought it was a good program," McMaster said.