Ex-Boy Scouts leader pleads guilty to attempted grooming
A former Boy Scouts camp leader pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor attempted grooming.
Richard J. Reynolds, 57, of the 400 block of Logan Street in Rockford, was sentenced to two years of sex-offender registration.
Reynolds was initially charged with four felony counts of grooming and two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct.
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Morgan Wilkinson said in court that in 2019 Reynolds befriended a 16-year-old boy on Snapchat. Reynolds eventually asked the boy to perform a sexual act on a pillow and send Reynolds the pillow, Wilkinson said.
At that time, Reynolds was on the Blackhawk Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He was co-director of Canyon Camp near Stockton. The boy knew Reynolds through the Scouts, according to authorities.
The Blackhawk council governs Scouting in McHenry County and other counties in northwestern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Reynolds registration with the Boy Scouts was revoked when the council learned of the allegations in August 2021. He was also added to the Scouts' Volunteer Screening Database, which precludes him from future participation. The charges were filed in February 2022.
Per the terms of his plea agreement, Reynolds is to have no unsupervised contact with children. He also has to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Reynolds was a schoolteacher, but the state suspended his license.