Indiana Governor may intervene in Goulais fugitive's case

A U.S. media report tonight suggests that Indiana Governor Joe Kernan (shown) may become involved in the case of Michael Reahard, the child-molestation suspect who skipped bail and was picked up by Ontario Provincial Police over the weekend in Goulais River.

Reahard is currently in the Michigan Sault, where he's reported to be refusing to sign extradition papers, claiming he's confused by the documents.

"He's scheduled to appear before the judge again tomorrow morning," says Nicole Manske, a reporter with WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana who's been following Reahard's sex-abuse charges for months.

"If he again refuses to sign, Governor Joe Kernan cold be forced to get involved," the television station is reporting tonight.

Manske's report quotes veteran Indianapolis Police Department investigator Terry Hall (known from his presentations to schoolchildren as Mr. Good Touch/Bad Touch) as saying that more than 30 children have come forward with allegations against Reahard, and dozens more may be living with secrets of his abuse.

Reahard, who's said to have lured his victims on the Internet, had a website on which Hall says he wrote: "I'm sure the Good Touch/Bad Touch people and all the law enforcement are patting themselves on the back for getting the kids to tell and catching me. I want to tell them that if they were really doing their jobs then this might not have happened in the first place."

To read the WANE-TV coverage (content may offend some readers) please click here.

Earlier SooToday.com coverage of this story

Dangerous U.S. sex suspect sought in our area U.S. fugitive nabbed after long walk in Goulais The child-protection program that caught Michael Reahard Sex suspect reportedly back on U.S. soil