COLUMBUS – Two central Ohio lawmakers are making a bipartisan effort in the Statehouse to finish some unfinished business on legislation inspired by the abduction, rape and murder of an Ohio State student whose body was found in a Grove City metro park in 2017.
When the Reagan Tokes Act was approved late in 2018, it created indefinite prison sentencing standards for violent offenders, such as the man convicted of murdering Reagan Tokes in February 2017, but did not tighten standards for monitoring violent offenders.
The new version of the bill seeks to remedy that, according to its sponsors, Representatives Kristin Boggs (D-Columbus) and Rick Carfagna (R-Genoa Township).
“The Reagan Tokes Act offers critical, commonsense reforms to the way we monitor violent offenders, making our communities safer. Hopefully by passing this legislation, no family will have to endure another heartbreaking tragedy like the one the Tokes family experienced this past year,” Boggs said.
Brian Golsby, a convicted sex offender who had been released from prison three months before Tokes’s death despite a violent record while behind bars, committed a series of armed robberies in the months leading up to Tokes’ death while being monitored by a GPS tracking device.
“Ohio clearly needs to better manage the re-entry of dangerous individuals into society,” Carfagna said.
The legislation establishes guidelines for GPS monitoring and aims to reduce parole officer caseloads, two provisions approved by the House last year but which did not pass the Senate where legislation similar to this version was introduced earlier this week.
Tokes was abducted after leaving her job at a Short North restaurant on Feb. 8, 2017.
Golsby is serving a life sentence for the murder.