KY Parole Board orders Ronald Exantus remain in prison following Florida arrest
An Indiana man released less than 10 years into a prison sentence despite killing a Kentucky child in 2015 has been ordered back to prison.
The Kentucky Parole Board on Thursday revoked the mandatory supervised release of Ronald Exantus, 42, after determining he should remain incarcerated for violating the conditions of his parole.
“The Board believes Offender Ronald Exantus to be a continued risk to public safety,” the parole board wrote in an order released Thursday evening. “Offender Exantus violating his conditions and ultimately committing a new misdemeanor offense within days of his release further proves that he is not suitable for release.”
Exantus was sentenced in 2018 for a fatal December 2015 break-in at a Versailles home. Exantus stabbed and killed Logan Tipton, 6, and injured Logan’s sisters and father.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the assaults, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in Logan’s death.
Exantus traveled from Indiana and had never visited the neighborhood before, an investigation found.
He was released Oct. 1, nine years, nine months and 25 days into his 20-year prison sentence. He knocked several years off his sentence through good behavior and time served before trial, and then was released eight months early on mandatory supervised released.
The program, created under a 2012 state law, allows qualified inmates within a certain timeframe of release to be turned out early.
The Kentucky Parole Board objected to Exantus’ release, including most recently Sept. 30.
His release garnered widespread attention, including from White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt, who told media in the days following the release the White House was “looking into this.”
After his release, Exantus traveled to Florida, where officials later arrested him, alleging he had not properly registered as a convicted felon within the required timeframe, and charged him with a misdemeanor. Exantus was arrested Oct. 9 after less than a week in the Sunshine State.
In its Thursday order, the Kentucky Parole Board noted Exantus signed a waiver admitting he was guilty of the misdemeanor charge, violating the terms of his release.
“The Board determined per KRS 439.3106(1) that the offender’s failure to comply with the condition of supervision constituted a significant risk to prior victims or the community at large and the offender cannot be appropriately managed in the community,” the Kentucky Justice & Safety Cabinet said in a news release.
After Exantus’ release, members of the nine-person state parole board received death threats, as people wrongly accused them of releasing him from prison early.
Thursday’s parole board order did not say where Exantus would serve the remainder of his sentence.