SW Mo. man charged as ’predatory sexual offender’

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A 68-year-old Greene County man who has been convicted in four states of molesting children has been charged as “predatory sexual offender” in Missouri and could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors charged Ronald Richard Reed of Strafford on Tuesday with first-degree child molestation and sexual misconduct involving a child less than 15 years. The charges stem from the alleged molestation of an 8-year-old girl earlier this year on a Greene County farm.

The Springfield News-Leader reports (http://bit.ly/PZTJyx ) prosecutors say Reed was living under an assumed name across the road from a children’s home, which houses youths 6 to 18 years old.

The prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that Reed doesn’t appear to have obtained an attorney. He was being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.