Split verdict for man in attempted child kidnapping case
A Greene County jury found a Fairborn man not guilty by reason of insanity Monday on a charge of attempted kidnapping for trying to snatch a kindergartner in August 2022 from a Xenia school open house for students and families, but guilty of felonious assault on a peace officer and escape.
Reid Carlton Duran, 36, faces 19 to 24½ years in prison when he is sentenced in Greene County Common Pleas Court. The court also will determine whether Duran will be placed in a state mental institution for the offense for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
“Reid Duran is dangerous. He attacked a police officer at the police station and then he tried to escape. The reason he was at the police station is because he went to an elementary school with the expressed purpose of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a child. I am thankful for the jury’s time and consideration of this case, and while I disagree with their verdict on the attempted kidnapping charge, I respect that in our system of justice, it was their decision to make,” Greene County Prosecutor
David Hayes said in a released statement.
Duran attended the Aug. 22, 2022, back-to-school open house and ice cream social at St. Brigid Catholic School in Xenia. He changed clothes to “blend in,” and made repeated, false representations that he was the father of a 5-year-old girl entering kindergarten, which drew suspicion from school administrators. The girl’s real parents, after seeing Duran asking questions of their daughter, called 911, according to police and the county prosecutor’s office.
The Xenia Police Division responded and Duran eventually admitted he came to St. Brigid to kidnap a child for sexual purposes.