Child molester raises concerns – Sheriff keeping close eye on Wood
A convicted child molester is riding the roads of Warren County in a sheriff’s patrol car picking up children, and lawmen are admitting they are powerless to do anything to stop him even though he once confessed to having sex with more than 20 children.
‘I’m sick about this,’ admitted Sheriff Jackie Matheny, regarding the actions of convicted sex offender Otis Odell Wood, 32, arrested Monday on misdemeanor charges of filing a false report. ‘People need to know this guy is out and running the roads and there’s not a law to prevent it. We are watching him, but we can’t watch him 24-7.’
Wood was released in May of last year after serving the balance of a 12-year sentence handed to him in 1997 on charges of aggravated sexual battery for his molestation of a nine-year-old boy.
It was back in 1996 lawmen said Wood used an ice cream truck to help entice children, with at least one child telling lawmen of molestation at the hands of the ice cream man.
While Wood was sentenced to serve 100 percent of his 12-year sentence, good time credits allowed him to get out after serving about nine years and flattening his sentence.
‘If he’d been on probation then there may have been restrictions, but since he flattened his sentence, there’s nothing that restricts him from children,’ Matheny said. ‘Even if you’re registered with the sexual offender registry, that doesn’t stop you from going around children unless there’s another existing court order.’
Lawmen were first alerted to Wood when he came to the sheriff’s office on his own to report he was being harassed. Lawmen noted he was driving a sheriff’s department vehicle which still bore the remnants of some markings. At present, Matheny said he is unsure if a family member bought the car at one of the local auctions or if the car was purchased from another county.
‘He’s made it up to look like a police vehicle,’ Matheny said, noting prior to his first arrest, Wood sometimes claimed to be a lawman, going so far as to wear a badge and carry a toy gun even after he was an adult. He also admitted to handcuffing his nine-year-old victim back in 1996 prior to sodomizing him.
It was during the visit to the sheriff’s department that a deputy recognized Wood and then realized there was a 12-year-old boy riding as a passenger in the vehicle. When asked about the boy, Wood reportedly first said he was his cousin and then brother. The child told lawmen he was not related to Wood, noting that Wood ‘hung around’ near where he lived and would ‘offer rides’ to people. Wood was then arrested for lying about the identity of the child and was told to remove markings on the car which made it look like a police vehicle. If it is determined Wood is passing himself off as a law enforcement officer, he will face additional charges.
Matheny said the situation is especially disturbing given the scope of the molestations Wood confessed to just a decade before.
‘I’ve had sexual contact with other kids since I’ve been 13-years-old and I can’t even start to say how many,’ admitted a then 21-year-old Wood in his graphic confession to molesting young boys and girls back in 1996. ‘I know what I done was wrong and I need help.’
In addition to admitting to molesting 20 children, most of whom were never identified if he was in fact telling the truth, he also admitted to having sex with a child less than 48 hours prior to his arrest.
While unable to stop Wood from being around children, Matheny said investigators will continue looking into the issue to see if Wood is violating any laws on the books. Matheny noted lawmen have learned Wood’s roommate is also an alleged sex offender.
Matheny said he has been in touch with members of the local delegation to the state legislature, hoping they can bring a measure before the state to change the law.
‘We have to do something to protect our children because as it is right now there’s nothing to keep child molesters from doing as they please once they are out,’ Matheny said. ‘We need some kind of law that won’t just put their pictures on a website, but that will require them to stay away from children.’
Coincidentally, the revelation about Wood comes on the day all sexual offenders are required to be registered with the state’s sexual offender registry under a new law that requires blanket registration no matter when the crime was committed. Wood wasn’t required to register prior to the new law since he committed his previous offense before that legislation went into effect.