The U.S. Marshals are now offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a Florida registered sex predator who vanished after being released from state prison on March 1.
Ernest Eugene Reigh failed to register his address with the St. Lucie County Jail and he was last seen in Fort Pierce, Florida but officials believe he may be in North Carolina, or on his way to Pennsylvania. Reigh reportedly has family in Pennsylvania.
Officials say Reigh's criminal record includes the sexual assault of a girl under 12 years old in St. Lucie County in 1995.
Reigh was an employee at the St. Lucie County Jail in the mid 1990s. He worked as an assistant at the jail. He was suspended in March of 1995 after the girl told investigators that he had forced her to perform sexual acts for about two years.
Reigh was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts and sentenced to state prison in 1996. A month after he was sentenced, he admitted that he lied during trial when he said he was falsely accused.
Reigh also admitted to selling a machine gun for $500 prior to his arrest. He was found guilty of perjury, which added another year to his sentence.
When Reigh was released from prison, he was dropped off at the Greyhound bus top, on Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce. He was supposed to head to his home on South U.S. 1 in Fort Pierce, but he didn't' show up to the Federal Probation Office to register his address with the St. Lucie County Jail.
Detectives have been unable to locate him and are now asking for the public's help locating him.
Reigh is bald with blue eyes and he is about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds.
If you have any information on where this wanted absconded sexual predator with a history of carrying firearms could be, please call Deputy U.S. Marshal Christopher Crotty at 305-710-7395 or Task Force Officer John Brady at 954-707-2457.
