Detectives need help finding sex offender wanted on new molestation charges

Detectives are asking for the public’s help in finding a registered sex offender who is wanted for charges of molesting of a 3-year-old child, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

Ronald Correa, 39, is facing two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and failing to notify within 48 hours of a temporary residence. Detectives believe he may have fled the area because when they showed up at his home Friday to arrest him, the home was vacant.

Anyone who has information about Correa’s whereabouts is asked to call the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Section at 941-861-4276 or 941-861-4928. Anyone that sees Correa is advised to call 911 immediately.

The investigation into the new allegations got underway after deputies were contacted on Sept. 16 by the 3-year-old child’s parents. The parents reported that Correa had inappropriately touched their 3-year-old twice.

Correa had been temporarily staying at the family’s home at the time the alleged molestation took place but had failed to report his new address as is required of him.

In 2003, Correa was designated a sexual offender after he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery on a child under 16 years old in Seminole County.

Correa had initially been charged with 15 counts of sexual battery when he was arrested in August 2003, but when the State Attorney’s Office later filed formal charges, only four counts were filed.

In August 2004, Correa took a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of the lesser included offense of lewd and lascivious molestation. The State Attorney’s Office dropped the other two counts of sexual battery and Correa never served any prison time. Instead, he was sentenced to one year of house arrest followed by eight years of sex offender probation and his conviction was formally withheld from his record.

In March 2009, Correa’s probation was terminated early by a judge despite objections by the State Attorney’s Office.

Correa drives a black four-door Kia with tag #N935FL. His most recent registered address was in the 4000 block of Vana Drive in Sarasota.

Tips about Correa’s whereabouts can also be submitted anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers of Sarasota at 941-366-TIPS or online at SarasotaCrimeStoppers.com.

This story was originally published September 26, 2017 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Detectives need help finding sex offender wanted on new molestation charges."