If I was a first-time offender and have a had a clean record for 3 years, can I get my criminal record cleared?

I am a lawyer in CT and practice in this area of the law.  In most states the way to get one's record cleared is by filing an application for expungement.  this application can usually be filed at least 3-5 years from the last day you completed probation or from the disposition of the crime.  I suggest that you hire a lawyer to help you complete the application and file it with the board of pardons.  most criminal defense lawyers are familiar with this and will meet with you for free the first time to let you know if you are a good condidate at this time.

It sounds as though you were put in "Pre-Trial Intervention" which is a diversion program for first-time non-violent criminal offenders.  Participants are required to perform, among other things, community restitution and make monetary restitution to their victims. South Carolina law allows offenders, who successfully complete the pretrial intervention program to apply to the court for an order to destroy all official records relating to their arrest.  The effect of the order is to restore the person, in the contemplation of the law, to the status he occupied before the arrest.  No person, as to whom the order has been entered, may be held thereafter under any provision of any law to be guilty of perjury or otherwise giving a false statement by reason of his failure to recite or acknowledge the arrest in response to any inquiry made of him for any purpose. Here's is a link to a site that will explain further; it is for the Ninth Judicial District but the steps are much the same statewide:  http://www.scsolicitor9.org/expungementdir.htm