A registered sexual offender is being held in the Lorain County Jail, on charges that he exposed himself to two teenage girls on Monday.

Matthew Trakas, 41, is facing two counts of public indecency. Trakas was arrested after the girls told investigators the registered sexual predator was completely naked in his doorway while putting up Halloween decorations. Trakas lives across the street from St. Mary’s Catholic School and was in full view of the school.

Trakas’ home on Fourth Street in Elyria is decorated for Halloween, but for parents and children living in the surrounding neighborhood, the most frightening thing about the house is what they are learning about the man who put up the decorations.

A neighbor who asked that she not be identified, tells Fox 8 News, “he is very kid friendly and that is weird for a single guy all by himself, I guess when you start breaking it down, it starts to look a little odd.”

Investigators concede he never should have been allowed in the neighborhood.

It seems that nearly all of his neighbors were unaware that Trakas was a registered sexual offender as the result of a 1993 assault on a four-year-old girl.

That is the same age as the daughter of one of Trakas’ current neighbors, a little girl he tried to befriend.

The child’s mother, who also did not want to be identified, says “I’m extremely scared. Somebody that nice and that polite, that you would never think that about, could actually be the one you should be scared of. You know you’re talking to him every day and you probably shouldn’t have.”

“I liken it to putting an alcoholic in a bar,” says Elyria Police Lt. Andy Eichenlaub, “it’s very difficult but they put themselves in those positions.”

According to court documents obtained by Fox 8 News, Trakas asked an appeals court in 2002 to remove his sexual predator label. But based on his prior crimes, the court turned down that request.

Sgt. Diana Nicholl runs the sexual offender registration program for the Lorain County Sheriff’s Department, and says Trakas has been reporting on his status since he got out of prison in 2008.

Sgt. Nicholl says Trakas was able to keep his background a secret from his neighbors, and got away with living so close to a school because of what amounts to a jurisdictional snafu.

“We advised the offender that he’s not allowed to live there”, said Nicholl, “however it’s a civil matter, it’s not a criminal matter and we can’t make him move.”

Nicholl says a notification was sent to Elyria Police that Trakas was violating the sexual predator law by living so close to the school, but the department did not take any action until the two girls reported on Monday that he was exposing himself.

Trakas’ neighbor says, “I think it’s crazy that nobody knew or they didn’t tell anybody, I mean I guess we could have tried to look it up online or something but like I said you wouldn’t have thought to look him up or even try to figure out who he was.”

Trakas is currently being held in the Lorain County Jail on a $125,000 bond.

Story by WJW-TV

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A Florida woman who killed her baby when his crying interrupted work on her virtual farm on Facebook has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Alexandra Tobias, 22, told investigators that she shook her 3-month-old baby boy because he was crying as she played Farmville, the Times-Union reports. She may have hit his head on the computer during the shaking, she told the court. Tobias shook him once, had a cigarette, then shook him again, she recounted. She faces a minimum of 25 years in prison, and could get life. (Click here for another—odder, but less tragic—Facebook-related crime.)

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A squabble at a small Georgia town’s council meeting — in which a white councilman told his black counterpart that he should be working in a cotton field — has caught the attention of the NAACP.

The exchange took place in a recent Warner Robins City Council meeting, said Larry Holmes, president of the NAACP in central Georgia’s Houston County, which includes Warner Robins.

“They need to learn to respect each other and they need to stop all the name-calling,” Holmes said.

“Ever since this new council was elected, there has been different problems. For one thing, they just can’t seem to function there in a more pleasant and peaceful manner,” he said.

The controversial “cotton field” exchange happened earlier this month, said CNN affiliate WMAZ.

The heated argument, which was captured on tape, was between council members John Williams, who is white, and Daron Lee, who is black, the affiliate reported.

During the exchange, Lee said he was tired of being interrupted and was upset about how he had been treated at an earlier meeting.

“I was disrespected last Monday. I’m getting about tired of you all, talking to me any kind of way. I’m not working in a cotton field,” he said.

“You should be,” Williams interjected after a short pause.

Lee then walked out of the meeting but later returned, the affiliate reported. Afterward, Lee told WMAZ that Williams “smiles in your face and makes racial remarks. I am pretty much used to it by now [but] I had it last meeting. It is a poor representation of the council.”

Williams denied there was any racial element to his remark.

I worked in the cotton field,” he said. “I drove a cotton basket many miles. It is not a racial remark at all. [Lee] makes everything racial.”

Both men appeared Thursday on CNN, where it appeared clear that the impasse would continue.

Williams said he had not apologized to Lee, and would not do so until Lee apologized first for bringing race into the discussion. Lee said he doesn’t have anything to apologize for.

“Not only did it offend me, but more so it offended the people who make up the city of Warner Robins,” he said.

Williams accused Lee of using race as a tool for division.

“This gentleman has steadily built a wall between the white and black citizens in the community,” Williams said.

In the public comment period of the meeting where the interchange occurred, one resident suggested that the City Council get diversity training.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sent a letter to the City Council stating that Williams should resign, Holmes said.

“We’re just saying if they can’t work together that maybe someone needs to resign,” he said.

Williams said he has no plans to do so.

Video By Cnn

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