The Hernando County Sheriff's Office identified 43-year-old Ronald William Causey, born November 6, 1982, as wanted on a no-bond warrant for lewd or lascivious molestation.
The alert was labeled Manhunt Monday.
social media campaign, which the Hernando Sheriff uses to regularly publicize active, high-priority, no-bond warrants and solicit tips from the public, according to the
Hernando County Sheriff's Office
. The sheriff's office is headquartered at 18900 Cortez Blvd. in Brooksville, which also serves as the county seat and main administrative hub for countywide law enforcement, warrant processing, and criminal investigations, per the agency's own community alert records.
What the Warrant Actually Alleges
Under Florida Statute § 800.04(5), lewd or lascivious molestation is defined as intentionally touching the intimate areas — including breasts, genitals, genital area, or buttocks — of a minor under 16 in a lewd or lascivious manner, or forcing or enticing a minor under 16 to touch the offender in the same way, according to Richard Hornsby Law.
Florida law treats the charge as a strict liability offense. Neither a victim's consent nor a defendant's ignorance or mistaken belief about the victim's age can be raised as a legal defense, per the Florida Legislature's text of Florida Statute § 800.04. The statute's reach reflects just how seriously state law treats any sexual conduct involving minors, regardless of the circumstances a defendant might try to argue.
Potential Penalties If Convicted
The severity of punishment under the statute depends on both the age of the alleged victim and whether the offender was an adult or a minor. Adult penalties range from a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison when the victim is between 12 and 15 years old, up to a life felony carrying a minimum mandatory 25-year sentence — and potentially life imprisonment — when the victim is under 12, according to the Flaherty & Merrifield defense firm. Florida's Criminal Punishment Code designates molestation of a victim under 12 as a Level 9 offense severity ranking, which mandates substantial minimum state prison sentences upon conviction, per the same Hornsby Law analysis cited earlier.
A conviction would also trigger mandatory lifetime registration on the Florida Sexual Offender Registry under Florida Statute § 943.0435, requiring registrants generally to report in person twice a year, or every 30 days for people with a transient residence, according to the Brancato Law Firm. The firm ties stricter residence restrictions to sexual-predator designation, not to registrants generally. Those consequences would follow Causey for the rest of his life, well beyond any prison sentence a court might impose.
Court Process If He's Taken Into Custody
Should deputies locate and arrest Causey, Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.130 requires that anyone arrested on a no-bond warrant be brought before a judicial officer for a first appearance hearing within 24 hours, where the defendant is informed of the charge, counsel may be appointed, and pretrial-release conditions are considered, per the Florida Bar Journal. At the hearing, pretrial-release conditions are considered.
Hernando County court records also show Causey has a prior pro se civil case in the 5th Judicial Circuit, named as a defendant in a July 2021 commercial vehicle insurance summary judgment ruling involving Southeast Underground Services Inc., according to The Florida Law Weekly. That unrelated civil matter establishes a prior presence in the county's court system but has no bearing on the current criminal allegation.
How to Report a Tip
Anyone with information on Causey's whereabouts can contact Hernando County Crime Stoppers anonymously by calling 1-866-990-8477 or by using the P3 Tips mobile app. Tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for cash rewards up to $5,000, according to Hernando County Crime Stoppers, which operates independently of law enforcement to guarantee caller anonymity. The Sheriff's Office has run similar Manhunt Monday bulletins in recent weeks, including a search for a suspect wanted on a no-bond burglary warrant in August.
