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A baby was living among ex-cons at the house.

Angry and surprised neighbors say they didn't want it in their Collin County neighborhood but it was there for months - a halfway house no one seemed to know about.

Now a state lawmaker who lives down the street is questioning how an ex-con on parole was allowed to run the house in the 3500 block of McCreary.

At the Second Chance Ministry Halfway House, 18 people, many with a criminal past, sought shelter.

But for neighbors, its existence was a mystery.

"I had no idea, no idea what was going on down the street," said state representative (R) of Collin County.

Laubenberg is one of the neighbors living just 500 yards away. She's concerned about the house and who is running it.

"You have a person running this house who is himself on parole. That's a violation," she said.

Angry and upset, Laubenberg called the sheriff.

"It's very upsetting when you hear you have a halfway house in Collin County and no one's called you, no one's wrote you a letter," said Sheriff Terry Box of Collin County.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials say Dennis Lee James, who's on parole for theft and drunk driving convictions, received permission from his parole officer to lease the house, along with his wife and 11-month-old child.

"The mission out here was reaching lost, broken and forgotten people in the real world and giving them hope," said Robert Ross, the halfway house assistant director.

"He was not even supposed to be allowed to be around other ex-offenders, but he was operating the property," Box added.

But there were other concerns. The Collin County Fire Marshall inspected the home and found numerous code violations. And child protective services investigated the living arrangements. James' 11-month-old child was living among the ex-cons. That's when James and his staff decided to close.

"The majority of them are back out on the streets with nowhere to go," said Ross.

A spokesperson for the TDCJ told us "there's such a 'not in my neighborhood mentality' that it's impossible for these people to get back on their feet."

"That is absolutely not true. The way you get someone back on their feet and rehabilitated is you put them somewhere where there is accountability, where there is structure," Laubenberg said.

She and the sheriff say they are fine with halfway houses in Collin County, as long as it's in an appropriate place, not a half block away from where kids play.