Rockford Boy Scout Leader 'Preyed' On Kane County Teen Boy: Prosecutor

KANE COUNTY, IL — A Rockford Boy Scout leader must register as a sex offender for 10 years and got two years of probation after pleading guilty to charges that he attempted to groom a Kane County boy, the county’s State’s Attorney announced on Monday.

Richard Reynolds, 57, pleaded guilty to attempted grooming and was sentenced to two years of specialized sex offender probation, State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said.

Mosser said that between 2019 and 2020, Reynolds sent direct messages on a social media app asking the victim — who was under the age of 18 at the time — to perform sexual acts and to share photos of the acts with him, Mosser said on Monday.

At the time, Reynolds was on the Blackhawk Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the co-director of Canyon Camp, a Boy Scout camp near Stockton, Mosser said. The victim knew Reynolds through his association with the Scouts, officials said.

Reynolds was charged in Kane County because the victim received the messages at his home in Kane County.

As part of the probation, Reynolds must undergo sex offender counseling, maintain daily logs, take polygraph tests, and adhere to a curfew, Mosser said. He is prohibited from possessing any sexually explicit materials, visiting pornographic websites, or having unsupervised contact with any child less than 17 years of age, Mosser said. He must also register as a sex offender for 10 years.

“Mr. Reynolds used his position of trust and authority in the Boy Scouts of America to prey on this victim, which is a nightmare to any parent,” Assistant State’s Attorney Morgan Wilkinson said.