Highlands County Sex Offender Registry

Highlands County sex offenders and sexual predators register with the Highlands County Sheriff's Office in Sebring, and all active registrants in the county are listed in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement public database that anyone can search at no cost. Highlands County is a central Florida county with roughly 110,000 residents, and the FDLE registry reflects current registrations across Sebring, Avon Park, Lake Placid, and the surrounding rural areas.

Highlands County Sheriff's Office Sex Offender Registration

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office manages sex offender registration for Highlands County, a central Florida county. Any person with a qualifying sexual conviction who lives, works, or regularly spends time in Highlands County is required to register in person at the sheriff's office. That obligation applies regardless of where the original conviction occurred. If an offense would require registration under Florida law, it requires registration here even if it happened in another state or a federal court.

Registration cannot be done online or by mail. You must appear at the sheriff's office in person. Staff will take your photo, collect fingerprints, and record your full name, date of birth, Social Security number, current address, vehicle information, phone numbers, and all online account identifiers. Bring a valid Florida ID or driver's license and any court documents related to your conviction. If you are new to Highlands County and previously registered elsewhere, bring your prior registration paperwork so staff can review your tier and re-registration schedule.

After you register, the sheriff's office submits your data to the FDLE, and your record appears in the public database. Any change to your address, phone, vehicle, or online accounts must be reported to the Highlands County Sheriff's Office within 48 hours of the change. That deadline does not stop for weekends or holidays. The sheriff's office coordinates with FDLE to ensure all Highlands County registrations are reflected in the statewide database.

Registration Requirements in Highlands County

Florida Statute § 943.0435 sets the rules for sex offender registration across the whole state, and those rules apply the same way in Highlands County. The statute defines who must register, what information they must provide, how often they must appear in person, and what penalties apply for failure to comply. Highlands County does not have any local modifications to these requirements.

Re-registration happens on a schedule tied to your designation. Standard sex offenders must re-register twice per year. The first visit is required during your birth month. The second visit falls six months after that. Sexual predators must come in four times per year, once every three months. The four-times-per-year requirement reflects the elevated risk level associated with the predator designation under Florida law.

Transient registrants, meaning people without a fixed address, must report to the Highlands County Sheriff's Office every 30 days. Moving around does not remove the registration obligation. It switches you to a monthly check-in cycle instead of the standard semi-annual one. You must report your current location each month even if you have no permanent address to give.

The 48-hour window for reporting changes is firm. A new address, a new car, a new email account, a new place of work, these all have to be reported within two days of the change happening. You cannot carry those updates to your next scheduled visit. Registration in Florida is for life. The statute does not set an expiration date for most registrants. Failing to register or missing a required update is a third-degree felony under Florida law.

Sexual Predators and Sexual Offenders in Highlands County

Florida law draws a clear line between two categories of people required to register. Both show up in the FDLE public database, but their obligations and the level of public notification differ.

Sexual offenders are people convicted of qualifying sexual crimes under Florida law, or out-of-state offenses that would require registration if they had occurred in Florida. They re-register twice a year, report changes within 48 hours, and follow residency restrictions. Their records are public, but the state does not run an active notification program for this group. You can search for them in the FDLE portal, but no formal process alerts your neighbors when a standard offender moves nearby.

Sexual predators hold a separate designation that requires a formal court finding. Courts use the criteria in Florida Statute § 775.21 to make that determination. Not every offender is a predator. The predator label applies to a smaller group assessed as higher risk. Predators must re-register four times per year instead of two. They are also subject to active community notification. When a predator moves to a new address in Highlands County, the sheriff's office may contact nearby residents directly. Both groups appear in the same FDLE database, but predator profiles are marked so you can distinguish them from standard offender records.

Search Highlands County Sex Offenders Online

The FDLE sex offender search portal is the main resource for looking up registered offenders and predators in Highlands County. The search tool is free and requires no login. You can search by county, city, ZIP code, or registrant name. A radius search option lets you find everyone registered within a set distance from a specific street address.

Each search result includes the registrant's current photo, physical description, registered address, offense history, and predator or offender status. The database is updated continuously as new registrations and address changes come in from the Highlands County Sheriff's Office and other county agencies. For anyone checking on a recent arrival from another state, the National Sex Offender Public Website at nsopw.gov provides a free multi-state lookup tool.

The sheriff's office coordinates with FDLE to ensure all Highlands County registrations are reflected in the statewide database.

Residency Restrictions in Highlands County

Florida's residency restriction statute, § 775.215, bars registered sex offenders and sexual predators from living within 1,000 feet of any school, childcare facility, park, playground, or place where children regularly gather. The measurement goes from the property line of the protected location to the property line of the registrant's residence. That standard applies uniformly throughout Highlands County.

The restriction is not limited to permanent addresses. A registrant cannot stay, even temporarily, at a location that falls within the prohibited zone. The Highlands County Sheriff's Office checks all new addresses against these limits when registrants come in to update their records. An address inside the 1,000-foot buffer will not be accepted. The registrant must find a compliant address before the update can be recorded.

Individual municipalities in Highlands County may layer additional rules on top of the state requirement. Sebring, Avon Park, and other incorporated areas can adopt local ordinances that go further than the state standard. Registrants should confirm city-level rules before committing to a new address. Moving to a location that violates a local ordinance creates a compliance problem even if the move was made without bad intent.

The FDLE search portal allows you to filter results by county, city, or ZIP code to find registered sex offenders and predators in Highlands County.

Florida Offender Alert Notifications for Highlands County

Residents of Highlands County can sign up for free email alerts through Florida Offender Alert. The service monitors the ZIP codes you choose and sends an email whenever a registered sex offender or sexual predator moves into or within those areas. Each alert includes the person's photo and their registered address.

There is no cost to sign up or to receive alerts. You can monitor multiple ZIP codes at once, which makes it easy to cover your home, a child's school, or any other area you care about in the same account. The service is a practical way to stay informed about changes in your area without checking the FDLE portal manually on a regular basis.

Cities in Highlands County

Sebring, Avon Park, and Lake Placid are the main communities in Highlands County, but none currently meet the population threshold for dedicated city pages on this site. All sex offender and sexual predator registrations for every city and unincorporated area in Highlands County are handled through the Highlands County Sheriff's Office at 434 Fernleaf Ave in Sebring.

Nearby Counties

Registrants who move out of Highlands County must notify the sheriff and register in their new county within 48 hours. Each surrounding county maintains its own registration office and compliance process under Florida's statewide framework.