Man who planned to kidnap child from Xenia school is sentenced to behavioral facility

XENIA — A 35-year-old man convicted of assault on a police officer, but cleared of attempted kidnapping, has been sentenced eight to 12 years in a behavioral health facility rather than prison.

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Reid Duncan was sentenced Thursday in Greene County Common Pleas Court, where News Center 7′s Mike Campbell was the only reporter in the courtroom and heard Duran address the court.

“I would like to I would like to apologize for my actions,” Duran said, reading a statement he prepared for the hearing. “Second, I would like to apologize to my victims.”

Those were his first public statements in the two years since his arrest involving an incident at St. Brigid Catholic School in August 2022. The trial jury, which deliberated about 10 hours, saw a video of Duran walking into the school for a kindergarten open house where he didn’t know anyone. Prosecutors have said he went in posing as a parent as part of a plan to kidnap a student so he would sexually abuse her.

“At the time I had stopped taking my medication because I didn’t think I needed it anymore,” Duran said in his statement in open court.

The principal noticed something wrong and called for help.

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Duran’s situation worsened when a videotaped interview with police captured him trying to stab an officer with a pen he was using to write out his statement, a statement in which he admitted wanting the child for sexual favors.

The trial jury found Duran not guilty by reason of insanity on the attempted kidnapping charge, but found him guilty of assault on a police officer and a charge of attempted escape.

Judge Michael Buckwalter sentenced Duran to Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare Hospital in Columbus, for a concurrent term of eight to 12 years in prison on the assault and escape charges. The jury’s verdict for acquittal on the insanity ruling means Duran has been identified as a mentally ill person and cannot go to prison.

The judge did credit Duran for the time he has already served, which means he could released from the behavioral facility in six years.

“I think it highlights the mental health challenges that many people in our community face,” Duran’s attorney, Anthony Van Noy, said.

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