MADISON COUNTY • A sex offender from Alton was accused Friday of taking or attempting to take a picture of a woman from under her dress while they were at a Walmart store in Godfrey. He was also accused of watching a children's swimming class when he wasn't supposed to.
Matthew A. Banks, 25, of the 2400 block of Kohler Street, was charged with unauthorized video recording and being a sex offender present at a program directed for minors, both felonies.
The incident at Walmart happened Tuesday evening. According to a press release from the Madison County Sheriff's Office, a deputy met with a female customer, who said that she became concerned when a man started following her around the store. As she tried to check out her items, she turned around to find the man kneeling behind her holding a phone out to his side and under her dress. She confronted him and the man left, driving away in a dark green, older model vehicle.
Police and a security officer reviewed surveillance footage and found some of the vehicle, which the deputy linked to Banks. Wednesday evening, while the first incident was being investigated, deputies responded to Lewis and Clark Community College, where the parent of a child attending a swimming class for kids ages 3 to 6 saw Banks watching the children. The parent knew Banks was a registered sex offender, and Banks left the campus in the same green vehicle. Later that night, deputies arrested him walking on Gerson Avenue in Godfrey.
The victim from the Walmart incident positively identified him.
Banks had been arrested and convicted for a previous incident in April 2015. In that incident, the mother of a 4-year-old child saw Banks masturbating next to her vehicle while in the parking lot of the Godfrey Schnucks. He was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of a child, and was put on the sex registry list.
He was being held on a bail of $100,000.
Source: Alton sex offender accused of pointing cell phone camera up woman's dress, watching children's swim class
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