The mother of murdered Ohio state student Reagan Tokes is making another push for change at the Statehouse.
She wants lawmakers to pass additional legislation that would beef up GPS monitoring of convicted felons once they’re released prison.
Reagan was killed by Brian Golsby, a convicted sex offender who was on GPS but wasn’t closely monitored.
Lisa McCrary-Tokes spoke before two legislative committees Thursday morning.
She told lawmakers about the pain she still carries every day over the loss of her daughter and she questioned why the state’s parole system still hasn’t changed to better track offenders
McCrary-Tokes called the state’s parole system flawed and broken and that it is “insane” that violent people released from prison who are assigned a GPS Monitor aren’t closely monitored.
Such was the case with her daughter’s killer Brian Golsby.
He had been released from prison months before Reagan's murder but committed a string of robberies before tokes murder all while wearing a GPS monitor.
He also went AWOL from his halfway house and failed to charge the device but never was threatened with returning to prison.
“To know what my daughter endured and what we lost and to know this is what the state of Ohio had in place and it didn’t protect her," McCrary-Tokes said.
McCrary-Tokes went on to point out that Golsby’s crimes escalated but that law enforcement didn’t have access to his GPS data. The bill she is pushing for would change that.
It would also reduce caseloads for parole officers some of whom have more than 100 offenders they’re supposed to track.
ODRC sent a statement this week that its budget proposal addresses the heavy caseloads by attempting to shift some of the low-level offenders down to county probation offices.
The union for parole officers says that doesn’t make Ohioans safer.