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“VIOLENT SEXUAL OFFENDER” LOCATED IN NEWTON COUNTY

12/04/2015

On November 29th, 2015, a local resident called the Newton County Sheriff’s Office to report an unknown person camping on their property, along their driveway. A Deputy responded and located Edlred Reid, aged 68, sleeping under a tarp attached to his pickup.
When the Deputy ran Reid’s identification, the return indicated he was a “Violent Sexual Offender” who was listed as being incarcerated in a Tennessee State Prison. Newton County Sheriff’s Office contacted Tennessee authorities who stated they had transported Reid to be incarcerated in Texas on Failure to Register as a Sex Offender charges. This could not be immediately confirmed and no warrants were on file for Reid. Reid was advised to leave the property and was directed to a public campground for the night.
Upon further investigation on the morning of November 30th, it was determined that Reid had been ordered in Texas to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life because of a Rape conviction from the late 1990s, but had never done so. Deputies returned to the campground to arrest Reid but he had already left the area.
A bulletin was put out to area law enforcement to be on the lookout for Reid; a vehicle description was included in the bulletin. Shortly thereafter, Harrison Police notified Newton County they had located Reid’s vehicle at the Boone County library. Officers located Reid inside, using the library’s computers to access internet searches, apparently in an attempt to locate land for sale in Newton County. Reid was placed under arrest for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender and transported to the Newton County Jail.
The Newton County Sheriff’s Office contacted the United States Marshals Service to assist in the investigation. Marshals arrived and, along with NCSO personnel, spoke with Reid who stated he had never registered as a sex offender, even though the law required it. Reid further stated he never intended to do so.
Investigators discovered that Reid had been travelling over many parts of the United States, staying only a short period of time in each place, in an attempt to evade registration and discovery that he had failed to do so. It was learned that in the ten days prior to being located in Newton County, Reid had spent time in several states including, Arkansas, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and Washington D.C.
Reid is being held without bond on the Newton County charges and information from the case has been turned over to the U.S. Marshals in an attempt to file Federal charges due to the interstate nature of his travels and the fact that he has violated Sex Offender Registration laws in so many states.
Sheriff Keith Slape said “Mr. Reid was obviously trying to work the system to avoid registering the fact that he is a violent sexual predator. I’m glad he was discovered and taken into custody without causing any harm in our county. Hopefully this arrest, and the information handed over to the Federal Authorities will tie up some loose ends and put a stop to his state hopping without supervision.”

 

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Eldred Reid