MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- The Marion County Sheriff's Office has put together an unusual publication. A newspaper filled with registered sex offenders.

The sheriff is using it to warn homeowners about the sex offenders in their neighborhoods. Much of that information is already online on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website.

But the sheriff's office took it up a notch.

All 509 registered sex offenders and predators living in Marion County are in the newspaper and for the 5th straight year, they printed 100,000 copies.

Matthew, 10, lives on a Summerfield block full of friendly neighbors. But there are some houses he never, ever goes near; the homes of registered sex offenders.

"So, you stay away from them?" WFTV reporter Berndt Petersen asked.

"Yeah." Matthew replied.

"Do your friends stay away from those places too?" Petersen asked.

"Yeah." He replied.

The sheriff's office is helping neighbors identify them the homes. They're distributing 100,000 copies of a 40-page newspaper that lists the names and addresses of every offender and predator living in Marion County.

"Not only let the citizens know, but let the offenders know that we are holding them accountable," Lt. Chris Vorisek of the Marion County Sheriff's Office said.

Offenders James Martin and Peter Czaplicki share a house. After neighbor Timothy Johnson received one of the newspapers, he decided to warn the entire community.

"Well, I figured if it helped one kid stay safe, I thought that would be the right thing to do," Johnson said.

Johnson says several predators live in the area and folks are spreading the word.

"There was a child at my son's bus stop who ran up to me and said we have a sex offender living in the neighborhood. The child knew before I did," said Cathy, a parent.

That's how Matthew found out and he's following his parents’ instructions to “stay away.”

"Do they ever try to talk to you?" Petersen asked.

"Oh, if they do, then we know better to run away and scream," Matthew replied.

The newspapers cost $18,000 to print, but it didn't cost taxpayers a dime. It was paid for with money from illegal drug seizures.

Eyewitness News learned that of the 500 offenders in the newspaper, only 80 of them were convicted in Marion County. The rest moved there from outside the county or outside the state.