Jury trial set for man accused of felony indecent exposure

Published at 11:42 am, August 2, 2021

Eric Grossarth, EastIdahoNews.com

REXBURG — A man accused of exposing himself to three young girls was back in court Monday morning.

Cody Polatis, 26, appeared via Zoom from the Madison County Jail, where he pleaded not guilty to felony indecent exposure. District Judge Steven Boyce kept Polatis’ bail at $100,000 and scheduled a jury trial for Nov. 18 and 19.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office arrested Polatis after a mother called deputies on July 12, saying a man had exposed himself to three young girls at Warm Slough. According to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by EastIdahoNews.com, the girls said they were catching frogs in Henrys Fork when a man turned around with his genitals exposed.

“(One girl) told me she was approximately 2 to 3 feet from the man when he turned around and had a frog in his hands and asked her if she wanted a frog in his hands while his penis was out of his shorts,” the deputy wrote in his report.

The mother described the Polatis’ license plate and pickup truck to deputies, who found him at a different location. Court documents indicate Poltais was “very vague” about what happened and said he “may have been going to the bathroom.” A deputy also noticed a pornographic magazine on the center console of Polatis’ truck. Investigators noted that a bathroom was 30 to 50 feet from where his truck was parked at the boat ramp.

This isn’t Polatis’ first run-in with the law. Neighbors call him “The Sunday Bandit” after he was caught on camera breaking into Salem homes while people were at church. One neighbor set up a hidden camera in his daughter’s bedroom and caught Potlatis masturbating and stealing the girl’s clothes. The neighbor believed Polatis had broken in at least seven times and stolen $1,300 worth of women’s clothing.

Polatis has been booked in the Madison County Jail several times over the years but has never been sentenced on a felony charge. Because Polatis was convicted in 2016 for masturbating and looking at pornography outside a Rexburg surgical center, this time prosecutors were able to charge Polatis with a felony.

Polatis waived his preliminary hearing scheduled for July 28, resulting in the case being moved up to the District Court.

Although Polatis is accused of a crime, it does not necessarily mean he committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

SUBMIT A CORRECTION