Rep. Kristin Boggs introduces bipartisan second half of Reagan Tokes Act

State Reps. Kristin Boggs (D-Columbus) and Rick Carfagna (R-Genoa Township)  today announced the introduction of the Reagan Tokes Act, which will implement new standards to improve the monitoring of violent offenders.  This bill follows the passage of House Bill 365, also known as the Reagan Tokes Act, last year which created indefinite prison sentencing standards for violent offenders. The bill is named for Reagan Tokes, a student at The Ohio State University who was brutally kidnapped, raped and killed after leaving work at a Columbus restaurant in 2017.

“The Reagan Tokes Act offers critical, commonsense reforms to the way we monitor violent offenders, making our communities safer,” said Rep. Boggs. “Hopefully by passing this legislation, no family will have to endure another heartbreaking tragedy like the one the Tokes family experienced this past year.”

“Ohio clearly needs to better manage the re-entry of dangerous individuals into society,” remarked Rep. Carfagna. “In addition to providing law enforcement with real-time access to GPS information, it’s also crucial that we ensure parole officer workloads are reasonable and allow for the proper levels of monitoring.”

The Reagan Tokes Act makes several important reforms to post release control supervision, such as adopting guidelines for GPS monitoring and reducing parole officer caseloads.

On February 8, 2017, Reagan Tokes was abducted and later found in a Grove City, Ohio metro park. She was killed by a convicted sex offender that had been released from prison homeless three months prior, while being monitored by a GPS. It was later discovered that in the months leading up to Reagan’s death, he had committed a series of armed robberies.

The bill will now be assigned to a committee for further consideration.