Courtesy of Virginia State Police
Leonard Russell Kidd
Posted on 12/13/2016 10:33:07 AM PST by Perseverando
Courtesy of Virginia State Police
Leonard Russell Kidd
A Santa Claus who posed for pictures with pets and interacted with children and families Saturday at a Wytheville Petco store was a man Virginia designated as a sexually violent predator.
Leonard Russell Kidd, 37, of Max Meadows, who was released last year from years of state custody, was supposed to stay away from events where minor children would be present unless he had special permission from his probation officer to attend, according to a conditional release plan filed in Wythe County Circuit Court.
Kidd was convicted of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old and was implicated in the abuse of two other young boys, the conditional release plan said.
Whether that plan became part of the order releasing Kidd from custody was not immediately clear Monday.
Kidd’s probation officer, Mike Montgomery, said Monday that he did not know about the Christmas event. He referred all questions to the Virginia Department of Corrections headquarters in Richmond.
There, spokeswoman Lisa Kinney said conditions of probation are confidential.
“I can tell you that if there is any evidence of a violation the P&P [probation and parole] office will take the necessary action to address it,” Kinney wrote in an email.
Managers at the Wytheville Petco said Monday that Kidd worked there and had played Santa in Saturday’s event.
(Excerpt) Read more at roanoke.com ...
Kidd pleaded guilty in 2002 to an amended charge of aggravated sexual battery for assaulting a 6-year-old boy. He also pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a police officer and was imprisoned until 2009. At that point, the state invoked a Virginia law that allows some sex offenders to be held longer, and kept Kidd confined until 2015.
Reporting on hearings about Kidd’s post-prison confinement, the Wytheville Enterprise reported in 2009 and 2012 that psychologists concluded Kidd had a mental abnormality that made it likely that he would commit other offenses.
At a 2009 hearing, Dr. Doris Nevin, a Roanoke-based psychologist, said that on one test, Kidd’s scores ranked him “in a group of sex offenders who demonstrated a 100 percent probability of violent recidivism within seven years.”
I clicked on this thinking it might be about Krug Paulman...
“Leonard Russell Kidd”
Definitely NOT the Leon Russell that I’m a fan of.
You’re kidding right?
He’s dead, Jim..................
Well, the comment was a joke, but I’m not kidding about being a fan of Leon Russell.
When I played Santa Claus for a shopping mall in the 1990’s they ran a thorough background check on us and told us to keep our white gloved hands where the “elves” could see them at all times.
He does look a lot like a cross between a Podesta and a Clinton.
My employer requires a criminal background check and bond for anyone who has responsibility for or contact with kids, keys, or kash (sp!).
Shame on us all for not drawing and quartering this monster on the first offense.
Bigots! It’s “who he is!, damn it!!!!
A friend also does Santa.
He has padded gloves with wood dowels down the inside of each finger so he can not sense any touch, nor bend his fingers.
That’s what we have come to.
Needs a gelding that boy does.
Mr. Kidd?
Amazing someone didn’t do a background check. If he molested any boys, I would sue the company.
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