Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993 TAG: 9305250361
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Blacksburg police obtained an indecent liberties warrant Thursday against Sherman Edward Reese, 55, who had addresses in Montgomery County and Roanoke.
Before the warrant could be served, Reese killed himself near his brother's home in the Ironto section of Montgomery County.
Records show Reese had been charged with sexual offenses in Virginia and New Jersey in the early 1960s.
And he was accused of sodomizing a 14-year-old boy on Jan. 23 in the Ironto area. A grand jury was to consider that felony charge this summer.
Last month, Reese was found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of another 14-year-old boy, also on Jan. 23. Reese, who pleaded not guilty, paid a $100 fine and court costs.
Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith said the charges were placed after two sets of parents complained to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
One of the boys said Reese gave them liquor to drink while they were staying with him at a hunting camper in the Ironto area.
The other boy said he went to bed in his underwear after his clothes got wet when he fell into a bucket of water. He awoke to find Reese sodomizing him, Keith said.
The next morning, the boy made up a story about dreaming of a sexual encounter with a woman in an effort to make Reese think he didn't know what had happened, Keith said.
"On the way home, he [Reese] kept saying, `Don't tell,' " the boy told authorities.
In the incident Thursday, Reese had taken a 12-year-old Bedford County boy with him to Virginia Tech, where he was doing drywall work at Payne Hall, a new dormitory.
Reese was a friend of the boy's family. The boy had his mother's permission to go with Reese.
The boy said he dozed off and awoke to find Reese fondling him, according to a police news release.
After Reese and the boy had been on campus awhile, Reese sent the boy to his car to retrieve an item. The boy drove the car to his father's house in Radford and told him what had happened.
The boy went to the Blacksburg Police Department about 11 a.m. Thursday with his father to report that he had been fondled. Reese's car was towed to a service station and the keys were held at the Blacksburg police station.
Reese's co-workers were told to let Reese know he would have to come to the station to retrieve his car keys. Police hoped to talk to him then about the charge the boy had made.
But Reese killed himself with a revolver.
"I think this guy just panicked," Brown said.
Capt. William Brown of the Blacksburg Police Department said Reese "had bought some expensive gifts" for the boy and had taught him how to drive.
Alice Miesen, a detective with the Blacksburg Police Department, said buying expensive gifts and taking children on trips is typical pedophile behavior.
According to court records, Reese was charged in October 1964 with taking indecent liberties with children in Fairfax.
In October 1962, he was charged in Parsippany, N.J., with impairing the morals of a child under the age of 16.
It couldn't be determined Monday how those charges were resolved, either.
Records show he was sentenced to 12 months in jail in February 1965 after being convicted of indecent exposure in Richmond.
by CNB