COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lisa McCrary-Tokes acknowledged the timing can’t be ignored.
Five years to the day from when her daughter, Reagan Tokes, was kidnapped, raped and later killed by a convicted violent sex offender, Brian Golsby, lawmakers appear poised to move forward on legislation that would drastically change how law enforcement monitor ex-prisoners and shore up problems within the state’s parole system first exposed by 10 Investigates years ago.
While a portion of the Reagan Tokes Act that addresses criminal sentencing for certain offenders became law in 2018, the remaining portions of the bill – those key to making communities safer, according to McCrary-Tokes – have languished in the Ohio legislature.
Previous versions that held the remainder of the bill had gained some momentum but never passed.
On Tuesday, there was some renewed traction.
The Ohio House criminal justice committee voted to favorably pass House Bill 166 Tuesday, setting the bill up for a full House vote on Wednesday – the most significant progress the bill has seen in months, if not years.
When asked if she was excited by the passage, Lisa McCary-Tokes wrote to 10 Investigates’ Bennett Haeberle: “very much so, especially given the date.”
In August, McCrary-Tokes had expressed some frustration with how long the bill had languished.
“Innocent lives are at stake and innocent lives would be saved with this measure,” she said at the time in an interview with 10 Investigates.
Reagan Tokes, who was just three months shy of graduating from Ohio State, was kidnapped on February 8, 2017, as she left her job in the Short North. Authorities said she was forced to withdraw money from an ATM and was eventually raped and fatally shot by Golsby, who left her body in snowy Scioto Grove Metro Park.
Golsby, a convicted sex offender who had been released from prison just three months before Reagan’s death, was released homeless because no halfway house in the Columbus area would accept a violent sex offender.
As part of the conditions of his release, Golsby was given a GPS ankle monitor – but no one monitored him in real-time and there were no boundaries or guardrails that would’ve restricted his movements. He faced little sanctions for what probation violations occurred after his release in 2016.
And it was only after his arrest for Reagan’s murder that his ankle monitor linked him to a string of violent robberies in the German Village area in the weeks and days leading up to Reagan’s murder.
Golsby was convicted to life without the possibility of parole in 2018.
10 Investigates’ reporting uncovered how Reagan’s death was not a one-off. There were other women killed by men who had been under post-release supervision by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority. We reported on them extensively. You can revisit that reporting here:
- Ignored policies, violent crimes raise questions about Ohio’s ability to watch ex-offenders
- Reagan Tokes’ parents discuss their struggle and desire to create change
- Brian Golsby found guilty on all counts in the death of Reagan Tokes
- Lawmakers: ODRC decision to not track convicted rapist with GPS "unacceptable"
- Lawmakers re-introduce Reagan Tokes Act at the Ohio Statehouse
- Remembering Reagan: Family continues to push for change 3 years after Ohio State student’s murder
- Lawmakers re-introduce Reagan Tokes Act at Ohio Statehouse
- Reagan Tokes’ mother still holds hope for legislative change 4 years after daughter’s murder
Among other things, House Bill 166 would:
- Beef up GPS monitoring of offenders – setting curfews or geographic boundaries called “exclusion or inclusion zones” which could set parameters on where an ex-prisoner on post-release supervision could go. An example would be restrict an offender’s movements away from a victim’s home.
- Increase access for law enforcement to GPS data
- Reduce parole officers’ caseloads
- Require DRC to create a re-entry program aimed at preventing homeless offenders
On Tuesday, 10 Investigates spoke with one of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Kristin Boggs, D- Columbus, who said: “I am very happy that we were able to pass this out of committee today. This was a huge step in the right direction. It’s never been that this bill was opposed by a majority of the members here; this bill has always been very bi-partisan and has always had a lot of bi-partisan support. I think it was just a matter of making sure that everything was absolutely correct.”
The latest revision of the bill makes some technical changes to potential re-sentencing for possible violations and places discretion back with judges rather than the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, among other things.
A full House vote was expected Wednesday. The bill would still need to clear the Senate if it were to find its way to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk to become law.
“The timing is something that you can’t ignore on a day that – I imagine -- is incredibly hard for the family. I hope this sparks a little bit of hope for them,” Boggs said.