By SYDNEY KENT
A Bluffton man was sentenced to two years at the Indiana Department of Corrections for threatening to kill a Wells County judge and prosecutor.
Harold Osias Reed, 64, was charged with intimidation of a judge, a Level 5 felony, after an incident on Aug. 17 where he made threatening remarks in a phone call to the courthouse.
Reed has also been ordered to pay court costs and fines.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a status conference for a separate case for Reed was scheduled the same day he made the call. Reed contacted the Wells Circuit Court and requested to speak with his public defender. When she was not available, he asked the bailiff to tell the court to “watch their backs because I’m going to kill them and dispose of their bodies so I can’t get caught.”
The bailiff immediately reported Reed’s threat. Reed attempted to plead insanity, but licensed clinical psychology Kevin Wieland deemed him mentally competent at the time of the incident.
Detectives met with Reed at the Wells County Jail the day he made the call. Reed admitted to making the phone call but claimed he did not remember what was said.
According to a report submitted by Wieland, Reed denied any memory of the incident. However, it would appear he had some memory of the alleged crime as he pointed out that he had not acted upon his words.
“It’s not like I followed him (the judge) around or anything,” Reed told the examiner.
During the assessment, the examiner also asked Reed if he knew touching a child inappropriately was against the law. Reed replied, “I don’t know about ‘against the law’ because nothing happened to my dad and them after.” He ultimately acknowledged the act would “not be a good thing.”
Reed was found to have demonstrated “reasonable sanity” at the time he committed the intimidation charge as well as at the time he allegedly abused two children he was living with previously.
In July of 2021, Reed was charged with two counts of vicarious sexual conduct, both Level 3 felonies; two counts of child molesting, both Level 4 felonies; and providing obscene matter to a minor, a Level 6 felony. The charges involving the children is the basis for a three-day trial scheduled for Aug. 8, 9, and 10 in Wells Circuit Court. Should he be found guilty, he will be sentenced consecutively to the two year term he received for intimidation.
Reed also has a prior conviction in 2017 for intimidation, a Class A misdemeanor, after he sent his landlord threatening text messages.
sydney@news-banner.com
