WARREN — A Trumbull County sex offender serving a 10-years-to-life sentence for the 1996 rape of a female juvenile has lost his bid for parole.

Jenna Maze, coordinator of the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Victim/Witness Advocacy Office, learned that the state’s Adult Parole Authority late last month denied freedom for Ronald Harris, 61, who is incarcerated at Marion Correctional Institution.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins applauded the work of his office’s Child Assault Prosecution Unit headed by Gabe Wildman, which is in its 40th year of operation.

He also commended the efforts of Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Paris, a member of the unit, who wrote to the parole board earlier this year opposing Harris’ parole.

“The prosecutor’s office appreciates the attention and wisdom of the board in denying freedom to this sexual predator,” Watkins wrote in a news release.

The parole board stated Harris would next be eligible for parole on April 1, 2031.

He also was denied parole in 2021.

Paris stated in her March 19 letter to the parole board that Harris was perpetrating his sexual abuse of the young victim over several years.

“The facts underlying Harris’ conviction reflect a prolonged and calculated pattern of sexual abuse against… a vulnerable child in his care. This profound breach of trust caused significant and lasting emotional trauma that will undoubtedly burden the victim for the remainder of her life,” Paris wrote.

Paris also noted that while in prison, his colors haven’t changed because Harris violated the disciplinary rules by engaging in sexual intercourse with another inmate in July 2024.

“This conduct demonstrates a continued disregard for rules and boundaries,” Paris wrote. If Harris is unable or unwilling to comply with the basic rules… in a controlled prison setting, there is little assurance that he would adhere to the laws and conditions imposed upon him if released into the community,” she wrote.

Harris was sentenced on June 9, 1996, after being convicted by a Trumbull County jury before former Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Andrew D. Logan on charges of rape and felonious sexual penetration of a 9-year-old child. Diane Barber, retired former head of the Child Assault Division, wrote prior letters to the parole board opposing the release of Harris.

Paris wrote that Harris began abusing the girl when she was 8. Five years later, the victim disclosed the abuse to a friend and the friend’s mother notified police and Trumbull County Children Services. Although he was charged with only two counts, Paris said the victim described to the authorities many instances of molestation over a five-year period.