Release denied for man accused of exposing himself to children at park
A Downers Grove man, already accused of taking secret videos of females, is now charged with exposing himself to two children.
Matthew Morgan, 36, of the 0-100 block of Fourth Street, is charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a child, according to a DuPage County state's attorney's office news release.
DuPage County Judge George Ford denied pretrial release for Morgan Friday.
According to authorities, Glen Ellyn police responded around 4 p.m. on Sept. 6 to Sunset Park, 483 Fairview Ave., for a report of a man who exposed his genitals and touched himself in front of two girls, ages 9 and 11.
The girls were walking home from school when they heard a male voice. Then they turned around and saw a man standing about 10 feet away from them, according to authorities.
He allegedly told the girls that one of them had something fall out of her backpack and into nearby bushes, and it was "over there," which caused the girls to look in another direction. When the girls looked back, he was touching himself, according to authorities.
Morgan was arrested Thursday.
On Oct. 6, Morgan was charged with three counts of felony unauthorized video recording. He allegedly placed his phone underneath a 13-year-old girl's dress at a Starbucks in Hinsdale while pretending to tie his shoes. It also is alleged that he secretly recorded a woman using a changing room at a Goodwill store in Downers Grove. Police allege that when he was arrested, there were about 260 videos on his phone of recordings of young females in stores.
Those offenses didn't qualify for pretrial detention, so he was placed on electronic home monitoring and released from custody.
People on electronic home monitoring can leave their homes twice a week to conduct "essential" activities, including shopping for groceries, under state law. Morgan also was allowed to visit a therapist in Lombard.
According to a petition for detention filed in the latest case, Glen Ellyn police saw a notice about Morgan's arrest in the Downers Grove and Hinsdale case. They checked the phone Downers Grove police had confiscated, and it had directions to Sunset Park, according to the petition. The petition alleges Morgan told police he was urinating.