WARREN - Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins says Willis Reitz has had his three strikes and he should be out.
Or at least out of society, Watkins wrote in a recent letter to the Ohio Parole Board urging the board to deny parole for the 53-year-old convicted rapist who is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence at Grafton Correctional Institution.
''This sicko should never be released from prison,'' Watkins wrote.
Reitz, formerly of Howland, is up for parole in September and the prosecutor and family members of the girl he raped here are mounting a petition drive opposing parole for Reitz, who was turned down for release from prison in August of 2004.
When he was a Marine serving in North Carolina in 1977, Reitz pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman and breaking and entering. The court there ruled he wouldn't benefit from any treatment and he was placed on probation for four years, sent to an eight-week alcoholic workshop and fined $100.
Reitz eventually moved back to Trumbull County, where he was accused of sexually attacking a 6-year-old girl. Reitz had moved to Mississippi before the attacks on the girl were reported. In Mississippi in 1987, Reitz was convicted of raping a 60-year-old woman. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison on the rape charge but was released after seven years.
Reitz, a mechanic, then headed back to Howland and within two weeks, raped the girl again while still on parole. Prosecutors said the attack was under the guise that he was teaching her sexual behavior of ''what was expected of her by a man.''
Reitz reportedly had carried a paddle that was inscribed ''Law and Order, My Way.''
When he was arrested in 1994, Reitz pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition. At sentencing, Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay told Reitz he was about to ''see law and order the way Trumbull County sees it,'' and gave him to 15 years to life in prison. McKay also tacked on 15 to 25 years in prison on each of three other counts of rape and three to five years for each of two counts of sexual imposition.
''With sex offense convictions in three different states, Reitz has personally traveled many miles to earn a continued stay to insure public safety. If there is such a thing as pervert heaven, then Willis Reitz would be there; but for the time being, keep him in prison where life is good for the women and children who have the good fortune not to see him. Please don't cancel our insurance policy by releasing Reitz on parole,'' Watkins wrote.