A 75-year-old Dunnellon man who was convicted 18 years ago of lewd or lascivious conduct with a victim under 16 years of age was arrested after failing to register as a sex offender.
Warren Vincent Bennis, who lives at 12325 SW 91st Ln. in Dunnellon, claimed on Wednesday, March 25 that he had registered in February as required. A check of the registration log of sexual offenders reporting to the sheriff’s office’s Sexual Offender and Predator Unit indicated that Bennis hadn’t attempted to re-register during the month of February as required. He also wasn’t incarcerated during that time, a sheriff’s office report says.
Bennis initially registered as a sex offender on Feb. 13, 2006. He has since completed 30 Florida Department of Law Enforcement sexual offender registration forms, with the most recent being on Aug. 9, 2019. He previously had signed forms acknowledging that he understood the requirements to register twice a year as a sex offender.
When Bennis registered in August 2019, he was reminded that he needed to come back and register again in February. He initialed a form indicated that he understood the requirement to register every February and August, the report says.
Bennis was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with failing to register as a sex offender. He was released last Thursday night on his own recognizance and is due in court April 28 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charge.