Bail denied for alleged child sex trafficker

KAILUA-KONA — The man charged by the federal government with sex trafficking a 15-year-old girl and producing pornography of her and her 2-year-old daughter is now being held without bond by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Michael Patrakis, 43, Kailua-Kona, is charged with sex trafficking of a child and 27 counts of production of child pornography.

During a hearing Tuesday the government asked that he be held without bond.

The government filing cited a number of factors including that “there is no condition or combination of conditions of release which will reasonably assure defendant’s appearance as required” and no release conditions “will reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community.” The government also lists that the offenses have a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and were against a minor.

There is also a “serious risk defendant will flee,” the document said, and he is a “danger to other person or community.”

Requests for comment from Patrakis’s defense attorney were not returned by press time.

Patrakis had faced a number of state charges, which were put aside when he was arrested by federal agents. Some of those state charges, including child abuse and kidnapping, were not pursued at the federal level.