South Carolina Elementary Teacher Arrested, Accused of Stalking

Summary

A former South Carolina elementary school music teacher received five
years of probation after authorities said he developed an obsessive
and unwanted pattern of contact with an 11-year-old girl who had been
one of his students.

Dylan Robert Dukes taught music at Starr Elementary School in Anderson
County School District Three. He had more than five years of teaching
experience and had been named the school’s 2023–2024 Teacher of the
Year.

According to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and records later
summarized by the South Carolina State Board of Education, Dukes sent
the child more than 60 written messages described as love letters.

Before summer vacation, he allegedly prepared a personalized box
containing letters for the girl to read while she was away from
school. Reports described the box as containing enough letters to
maintain continuing contact throughout the summer break.

Authorities said the correspondence was accompanied by cards, gift
cards, ornaments, photographs and unwanted hugs. The child reportedly
told her family that the attention made her uncomfortable.

When Dukes learned that the girl would no longer attend Starr
Elementary School, investigators said he began attending her family’s
church. The girl’s mother later described the church attendance as
another way Dukes had expanded his access to the child outside the
classroom.

Detectives searched Dukes’s classroom and found several photographs
of the girl stored in his desk. Authorities specifically stated that
the photographs were not sexual in nature.

The distinction did not erase the concern created by the broader
pattern. Investigators said the repeated letters, gifts, physical
contact, stored photographs and presence at the child’s church caused
the family to fear that the conduct could escalate.

Investigators said they intervened before the harassment and stalking
became physical, which the child feared could happen.

Dukes was arrested on July 10, 2024, and charged with felony stalking.
A judge set a $50,000 surety bond and ordered him to have no contact
with the girl or her family if released.

Anderson County School District Three placed Dukes on administrative
leave and said it was cooperating with law enforcement. The district
also made counseling resources available to students and employees.

Two days after the arrest, the South Carolina State Board of Education
summarily suspended Dukes’s educator certificate. The emergency order
stated that the serious nature of the allegations created reason to
believe he could pose a threat to the health, safety and welfare of
students.

The criminal case remained pending for more than a year. On November
12, 2025, the felony stalking charge was dismissed as part of a plea
resolution.

Dukes entered a guilty plea pursuant to
North Carolina v. Alford to harassment in the first degree.
An Alford plea allows a defendant to accept a criminal judgment and
sentence without making a conventional admission to the factual
allegations.

The court imposed three years of incarceration but suspended that
sentence to five years of probation. Dukes was required to receive
mental-health counseling and comply with a permanent restraining
order prohibiting contact with the girl and her family.

Surrender of his educator certificate was also a condition of the
plea. On December 2, 2025, the State Board of Education accepted his
permanent voluntary surrender.

The surrender has the same effect as a permanent revocation. Dukes
forfeited the ability to work as an educator, paraprofessional, aide,
substitute teacher, band teacher, coach or in another position in a
South Carolina public school.

1. The Crime

The case involved a repeated pattern of unwanted conduct directed at
a child who had been one of Dukes’s elementary school students.

The behavior described by investigators included more than 60 love
letters, cards, gift cards, ornaments, pictures and hugs that the
child did not want.

The personalized summer box was especially significant because it
allegedly established a continuing schedule of written communication
during a period when Dukes would not ordinarily see the child in
class.

Dukes’s decision to begin attending the family’s church after learning
that the child would leave Starr Elementary was also cited as part of
the pattern.

A teacher may appropriately encourage, congratulate or support a
student within professional boundaries. Investigators alleged that
Dukes’s communications went far beyond ordinary educational contact
and became a substantial intrusion into the girl’s private life.

The original stalking charge required the state to establish a pattern
intended to cause, and actually causing, fear of death, assault, bodily
injury, criminal sexual contact, kidnapping or property damage.

The final first-degree-harassment charge focused on an intentional,
substantial and unreasonable intrusion into the victim’s private life
that served no legitimate purpose and caused mental or emotional
distress.

2. Crime Location

Much of the conduct was connected to
Starr Elementary School in Starr, South Carolina.
Dukes worked there as a music teacher for Anderson County School
District Three.

The allegations also extended beyond school property. Dukes allegedly
gave the child letters and gifts, attended functions where she was
present and began attending her family’s church.

The church was not publicly identified in the reliable sources
reviewed for this article. Its name is omitted to protect the child
and her family from unnecessary identification.

3. Date and Time of the Crime

The public records do not identify one isolated date on which all of
the conduct occurred. The case involved a pattern that developed over
time while the girl was Dukes’s student and continued near the
beginning of summer 2024.

• 2023–2024 school year
  Dukes worked as a music teacher at Starr Elementary and was named
  the school’s Teacher of the Year.
• Before summer break in 2024
  Dukes allegedly gave the child a personalized box containing more
  than 60 letters for the summer.
• Early July 2024
  The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the family’s
  report and searched Dukes’s classroom.
• July 10, 2024
  Dukes was arrested on a felony stalking charge.
• July 12, 2024
  The South Carolina State Board of Education summarily suspended
  his educator certificate.
• November 12, 2025
  The stalking charge was dismissed. Dukes entered an Alford guilty
  plea to first-degree harassment and was sentenced.
• December 2, 2025
  The State Board accepted the permanent voluntary surrender and
  invalidation of his educator certificate.

4. Police Department

The investigation was conducted by the
Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies received information concerning Dukes’s repeated contact with
the child and examined the materials provided by the family.

Detectives also searched Dukes’s classroom. The search reportedly
uncovered multiple photographs of the child inside his desk.

Authorities emphasized that the photographs were not sexual. However,
investigators considered them alongside the letters, gifts, unwanted
hugs and Dukes’s decision to attend the family’s church.

The sheriff’s office stated that detectives believed they stopped the
pattern before it progressed into physical conduct of the type the
child feared.

5. Suspect Name

The defendant was identified as
Dylan Robert Dukes.

6. Suspect Age

Dukes was reported to be 27 years old when he was
arrested in July 2024.

Public reports published after his 2025 plea continued to describe him
as 27, but his exact age on the sentencing date was not independently
confirmed. This article therefore uses 27 as his documented age at
arrest.

7. Charges

Under South Carolina law, stalking involves a pattern of conduct or
communications intended to cause, and actually causing, a reasonable
person to fear serious harm such as assault, bodily injury, sexual
contact or kidnapping.

First-degree harassment involves an intentional, substantial and
unreasonable intrusion into a person’s private life that serves no
legitimate purpose and causes mental or emotional distress.

Conduct covered by the harassment statute can include repeated
physical or visual contact, following a person, surveillance or
maintaining a presence near a school, residence, workplace or another
regularly visited location.

8. Bond Amount

A judge set Dukes’s bond at
$50,000 surety.

The judge also prohibited him from having any contact with the girl
or her family if he was released.

During the initial bond hearing, the child’s parents expressed fear
about Dukes’s access to their family and uncertainty about how far
the behavior might have progressed without intervention.

9. Conviction

Dukes entered a
guilty plea pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford
to first-degree harassment on November 12, 2025.

The plea resulted in a criminal judgment and sentence. However, an
Alford plea differs from an ordinary guilty plea because the defendant
accepts the legal consequences without making a conventional factual
admission to the conduct.

The original stalking charge was dismissed as part of the resolution.
Dukes was therefore not convicted of felony stalking.

The article should identify the final offense as first-degree
harassment rather than continuing to describe the stalking charge as
pending.

10. Sentence

The court sentenced Dukes to
three years of incarceration.

That sentence was suspended in favor of
five years of probation, meaning he would not serve
the prison term as long as he complied with the conditions imposed by
the court.

His reported sentence and plea conditions included:

• Five years of probation.
• A three-year prison sentence suspended during successful
  probation.
• Required mental-health counseling.
• A permanent restraining order.
• No contact with the girl or her family.
• Permanent surrender of his South Carolina educator certificate.

South Carolina law permits a court to require mental-health evaluation
and treatment when sentencing a person convicted of stalking or
harassment.

11. Outcome

The case concluded without a trial. The felony stalking charge was
dismissed, and Dukes received probation after entering the Alford plea
to first-degree harassment.

The permanent restraining order prevents him from contacting the
child or her family.

The professional consequences extended beyond the criminal sentence.
Dukes agreed to surrender educator certificate number 295080 as a
condition of the plea.

The South Carolina State Board of Education accepted the surrender on
December 2, 2025. The order permanently revoked and invalidated the
certificate.

Under the terms of the order, Dukes may not work as an educator,
paraprofessional, aide, substitute teacher, band teacher, coach or in
another position in a South Carolina public school, including a public
charter school.

12. Victim

Victim Name

The child’s name was not publicly released and is not included in
this article.

Victim Age

The victim was 11 years old when authorities
investigated the reported conduct.

Employment and Teaching Certificate

Dukes taught music at Starr Elementary School and had more than five
years of experience as a South Carolina educator.

The school had selected him as its Teacher of the Year for the
2023–2024 academic year. That recognition was referenced by his
defense during the initial bond proceedings.

Anderson County School District Three placed him on administrative
leave after the arrest and cooperated with investigators.

On July 12, 2024, the State Board of Education issued an emergency
summary suspension of Dukes’s teaching certificate.

The board stated that the allegations created reason to believe he
might pose a threat to the health, safety and welfare of students
under his instruction.

After the criminal plea, Dukes signed a consent order agreeing to
permanent voluntary surrender. The order states that the surrender is
not subject to reconsideration or judicial review and has the same
effect as permanent revocation.

Why the Timeline Correction Matters

The original version of this article described the investigation as
beginning in July 2025. That was one year too late.

Dukes was arrested on July 10, 2024, and his certificate was suspended
two days later. The criminal case was then resolved on November 12,
2025.

Treating the case as a new or still-unresolved 2025 arrest would erase
its most important developments: the dismissal of the stalking count,
the harassment plea, the suspended prison sentence, the permanent
restraining order and the loss of Dukes’s teaching credentials.

This article is based on official education records, South Carolina
statutes and published reporting available as of July 30, 2026. The
original felony stalking charge was dismissed. Dylan Robert Dukes
entered an Alford guilty plea to first-degree harassment and received
a suspended prison sentence with probation. The minor victim’s
identifying information has been omitted.