Charges are mounting against a child sexual predator. Michael Shepard was released from prison and is now accused of preying on at least 7 children.
Shepard had been living in Cedar Hollow Apartments, 7231 Cedar Court N, #211 in Pinellas Park, where he gained parents' and kids' trust.
Now more victims are coming forward. 10 News talks with a father who says Shepard raped his son.
"I want to whoop his ass," says the father. The father says from what he knew of family friend Michael Shepard, he had trusted him with his 12-year-old son.
He thought Shepard took his son to Shepard's apartment complex to play with other kids, at least that's what Shepard told him.
"He'd buy them McDonald's and took him to his house," the father says.
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But the sexual predator, who spent nearly 15 years in prison, is accused of preying on the most innocent once again: boys and girls as young as 5.
Police say he'd lure them to his apartment or a nearby wooded area where he manipulated the kids into sex acts.
"He said that Mike touched him. My wife asked him where and he showed her where," the father says.
Neighbors saw some warning signs.
"He would always have a different kid on his scooter and make the rounds around here," says neighbor Brendan McCarthy.
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"They're saying they can't predict the future about them reoffending, but in some cases like this, the signs were there he was going to reoffend," says neighbor Rene Oszmon.
The Department of Corrections tells 10 News that Shepard served his time for molesting 4 kids in the 1990s. Then, he was civilly committed as a sexually violent predator. But a judge signed off on his release without supervision. Shepard is required to check in with The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office every 3 months. The Sheriff's Office will also do random home checks to make sure Shepard is living where he's registered.
State Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg, believes there needs to be more state funding for probation programs. "If the person has a tendency to reoffend, they do need to be locked up civilly and kept away from society. Why would we want to treat our probation officers, our parole officers, law-enforcement as red-headed stepchildren and not properly fund them, and treat as a priority the work they do? This is critical work. This is crucial to safeguard communities and our children especially. This is crucial supervision, especially for the most dangerous people in our society, and they're not getting enough supervision and needs to be improved," says Dudley.
A judge just set Shepard's pretrial hearing on Monday. He'll be back in court in May.
The victim's parents and neighbors say they'll be in court to make sure the sexual predator remains locked up.
