URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - A man in prison for past sex-related crimes could be declared sexually dangerous if the prosecution can prove it.
The petition to have Gregory Reed, 42, labeled as sexually dangerous stemmed from charges that surfaced in Aug. 2018, when a past victim of Reed who was a child at the time but is now an adult came to the Champaign County Sheriff's Office with more accusations.
Reed is currently serving prison time for aggravated child pornography and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. A judge sentenced him to 10 1/2 years in prison for the pornography charge after he pleaded guilty to the crime in Sept. 2012. He pleaded guilty to the abuse charge nine months earlier and was sentenced to probation and 120 days behind bars, The News-Gazette said.
Reed's sexual abuse conviction involved contact with a young girl who visited his former Mahomet home in 2011. In that investigation, detectives learned about possible child pornography Reed possessed and discovered pictures of children, along with videos he took in his home and without the knowledge of the victims involving naked girls who had been swimming and were changing.
The woman who came forward in Aug. 2018 alleged Reed had sexually assaulted and abused her between 2006 and 2011 in Mahomet when she was a minor. Prosecutors filed new charges of predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse against him and began seeking the sexually dangerous label.
The newspaper said prosecutors have the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Reed is dealing with a mental disorder and has been for least one year, that this disorder caused the sex crimes to be committed, that he has shown he is capable of molesting children and that those crimes would not stop if he is not placed in jail. Reed has the right to a trial by judge or jury in connection to the petition regarding the sexually dangerous label.
Should he be found sexually dangerous, Reed would go to the Illinois Department of Corrections and receive care and treatment until the possible disorder is no more. To be released in that situation, Reed would need to petition for release, with a judge or jury making a decision on whether he is cured - meaning he could end up behind bars indefinitely.
Sexually dangerous men in Illinois are sent to Big Muddy River Correctional Center in Ina, which has 157 sexually dangerous men at this time, according to IDOC, and is the only place in Illinois that treats people with that label.
Champaign County Assistant State's Attorney Joel Fletcher told The News-Gazette that, for the sake of judicial economy, the petition would be pursued before Reed is tried on the new criminal charges.
Two sex-offender evaluators will examine Reed in the first step of the pursuit of prosecutors to declare him sexually dangerous. A status hearing will then happen in mid-October.
The petition against Reed is about the ninth of its kind filed in Champaign County since 1996, per News-Gazette Media archives.
