Man charged with failure to register as felon arrested near schools

[Photo courtesy MCSO]

A 42-year-old man on probation until 2035, after serving 10 years of a 20-year sentence for the murder of a 6-year-old boy in Kentucky, was arrested here Thursday, living immediately next to one school and blocks from another, for failure to register as a felon
with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the agency has announced.

Ronald Exantus was arrested Oct. 9 at a residence in the 14700 block of Southwest 43rd Terrace Road in Marion Oaks. The residence is “adjacent to Sunrise Elementary and just a few blocks away from Horizon Academy” according to an MCSO press release.

MCSO Public Information Office Lt. Paul Bloom discussed the arrest, which garnered national attention, in a news conference. He said the release of Exantus showed a “loss of common sense” by the judicial system.

Bloom said during the press conference that only a fence separated the arrest location from the closest school. He said detectives had been dispatched to monitor the location.

Exantus was placed in the Marion County Jail on a no bond basis.

Exantus was convicted for stabbing Logan Tipton to death in 2015 but was determined to be mentally ill in 2018, according to an arrest affidavit.

The affidavit indicates the MCSO learned of Exantus moving here and detectives discovered he was issued a Florida driver’s license with the arrest location address.

Exantus’ charge stems from his failure to register as a felon with MCSO within 48 hours after signing paperwork at a Florida Department of Corrections office in Marion County and being informed to also register with the MCSO, according to the arrest affidavit.