
Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
Cincinnati, Ohio- Friday, June 11 the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced that 51-year-old Jory Leedy of Franklin, Ohio had been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing a child under the age of 12.
Leedy was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2016 and he pleaded guilty to the charge on June 3, 2019, the day that his jury trial was scheduled to begin.
According to the statement, Leedy had met his victims while volunteering at a church as a bus driver at Target Ministries of Dayton. He provided transportation for the children and their mother to Sunday service. "Thereafter, Leedy stopped by the residence to play with the boys and eat dinner with the family. Leedy stopped volunteering as a bus driver shortly after."
Over the course of two years Leedy reportedly ingratiated himself with the family by buying clothes and games for the children, to the point that he was at the residence on an almost nightly basis.
He was given permission to take the children, then approximately 7 and 8 years old, on trips to the Cincinnati zoo, sporting events, and to Kings Island. At some point, he was allowed to even take the boys on vacations out of state including Florida, Kentucky, and New York.
The family did not become aware of who this man truly was until an altercation between the father of the children and Leedy resulted in police being called. Police revealed to the family that he was a registered sex offender.
Leedy had provided the family with a false name. It was not disclosed whether he had also provided a false identity to the church where he had volunteered.
"In addition, Leedy admitted in court documents that between 1999 and 2001 he sexually abused a then minor relative when he would take the boy on trips for sporting events."
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the registration requirement was the result of a conviction at the state level in 2002 to which he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child under the age of 12. As a result he was sentenced to 2 years in prison.