Detectives with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office have arrested a convicted sex offender suspected of targeting minors.
Orlando Dewitt, 40, was charged Nov. 28 with felony failure to register as a sex offender, according to sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Jason Augst. He was arrested following an investigation into reports about a suspicious person targeting minors in Carolina Beach.
Augst said deputies received complaints about the suspect from local business owners. Dewitt was allegedly approaching several teens at a Carolina Beach gas station and other businesses in the area.
Dewitt was wanted on multiple sex offenses from four other states, including first-degree sexual assault of a child and sex offense against a minor female, Augst said.
According to the National Sex Offender Registry, Dewitt is registered in Wisconsin, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. He was convicted on a charge of first-degree sexual offense of a child on Nov. 8, 1993 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He is reportedly an absconder from his registration status.
Dewitt was taken to the New Hanover County Jail and placed under a $100,000 secured bond.
