An 18-year-old black man in Cleveland admitted to raping a 13-year-old girl and two other women at gunpoint when he was 17. Dale Reed Jr., 18, was sentenced Monday to over three decades in prison for his heinous crime spree.
Reed was a small-time weed dealer who lured three victims to a vacant house on East 147th Street where he sexually assaulted them. He also broke into the bedroom of a 13-year-old girl while she slept and raped her when she woke up. He also shot a man as he was pumping gas in another incident.
When Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Kathleen Sutula decried Reed's actions he agreed that he was a domestic terror. "You're a domestic terror who just wreaked havoc on these people, right?" Sutula asked him during his sentencing. Reed replied, "I agree your honor."
Because of previous firearms violations and crimes, Reed was tried as an adult and Sutula sentenced him to 33 years in prison for the crimes he committed as a juvenile.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley referred to Reed as the latest example of a serial offender whose criminal history stretches back into adolescence and outgrew the capabilities of the Juvenile court system.
O'Malley told local news Cleveland news, "The people of Cleveland are much safer now that Dale Reed is behind bars." Reed was using drugs ranging from weed, ecstasy, acid, molly and PCP since age 12 leading him to have multiple run-ins with law enforcement before he was even 18.
The defense lawyer who represented Reed, James Hofelich, asked Judge Sutula for a lenient sentence since Reed had not served any significant time as a juvenile. Perhaps that is why he never learned from his mistakes, a juvenile system failed to properly punish the dangerous teen and allowed his criminal tendency's to grow into a reign of terror.
This judge wasn't going to take a soft-hearted approach when deciding this hardened criminals fate.
Sutula looked at Reed's juvenile record and asked, "When I look at his record, I wonder what it is they do over at juvenile court? He's been given one break after another and here you are saying to me in essence, 'Well he's always been given a break so let's give him one more break?' No. No one gave these victims a break. This court's not going to give him a break."
Prosecutors never were able to locate the handgun Reed used to carry out his heinous crimes, and when asked about the location of it he said he left the weapon at his "place of residence." Investigators never found the gun where Reed claimed to stay.
"Well your place of residence is going to be the Lorain Correctional Institute for the foreseeable future. I hope you use your time wisely," Judge Sutula said.
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Source: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/01/domestic_terror_gets_33_years.html
We really need to drop the Teen vs Adult age issues when it comes to certain crimes.
In Augusta GA we had a 13 y/o rob and murder and elderly women for $40.
Despite being just 13y/o he used a firearm to murder her.
Google: Zitedrick Shelley
Yes some bleeding hearts want to rehabilitate him in Juvenile Detention and give him a 2nd chance.