Hernando Sweep Checks 38 Registered Offenders, Ends With 10 Arrests

Ten men were arrested in Hernando County after a two-day compliance operation in which state agents, sheriff's investigators and probation officers made contact with 38 registered sexual offenders, sexual predators and career offenders living in the county. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the results of the operation, called Operation Singularity Edge, on August 19.

Eight of those arrested are registered sexual offenders. One is a registered sexual predator. One is a career offender. All 10 were booked into the Hernando County Jail.

The work was run by FDLE's Missing Persons and Offender Enforcement Division along with the agency's Orlando Regional Operations Center and its Brooksville Field Office, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, and the Florida Department of Corrections. Everyone targeted was on active supervision with the Department of Corrections, which means the checks covered both registry rules and probation conditions.

What investigators were checking

Teams conducted verification interviews with registrants while corrections officials searched residences and electronic devices. Florida law requires registrants to report far more than an address. Phone numbers, vehicles, email addresses and internet identifiers all have to be kept current with the local sheriff's office.

That is where most of the charges landed. FDLE said the arrests involve failure to report a change of residence, vehicles, phone numbers, email addresses or internet identifiers, along with knowingly providing false registration information. One man was taken in on a Hernando County warrant for failure to appear.

Those arrested

Name	Age	Status
Dustin Browning	48	Sexual predator
Jason Ausburn	46	Sexual offender
Matthew Dorvil	36	Sexual offender
Dale Larkin	51	Sexual offender
Michael Miller	31	Sexual offender
Arthur Morrow	52	Sexual offender
Eric Powell	56	Sexual offender
Benjamin Roman	61	Sexual offender
Vongarret Wilson	33	Sexual offender
Lazaro Campos	51	Career offender

An arrest is not a conviction. Each of the 10 is entitled to a defense, and the charges have not been tested in court.

Not the first sweep here

Hernando County has now been the site of at least two multi-agency registry operations in under a year. Over the Halloween holiday in 2025, the same three agencies ran a joint initiative here in which investigators traveled to 61 addresses and arrested eight registered sexual offenders and predators on compliance violations. The sheriff's office also took part in a countywide compliance operation with FDLE and the Department of Corrections in August 2025.

The pattern matters for anyone who checks the registry before signing a lease or letting a kid walk to a friend's house. A registry entry is only as good as the information behind it, and these operations exist to test whether the addresses, phones and online accounts on file are real.

Parents and residents can look up registrants by address, name or neighborhood through the state's Sexual Offenders and Predators Search, which FDLE also makes available through its mobile app. The database is free and updated by sheriff's offices statewide.

What happens next

FDLE said the investigations remain active and additional charges may follow, so the count of 10 could grow. The cases are being prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney for the Third Judicial Circuit. The agency has not said whether another Hernando compliance operation is scheduled.

Stay with Hernando County Community Website for updates as these cases move through the courts, and follow us on Facebook for breaking local alerts. Got a question about how registry checks work in your neighborhood? Join the conversation in our Community Forum.

Read more crime and safety stories and public safety coverage from around Hernando County.