Man Convicted, Sentenced in 2012 Cobb County Child Molestation

A North Carolina man has been convicted and sentenced in Cobb County for molesting his 9-year-old niece in 2012, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

Rickey Bernard Reid, 60, was convicted of child molestation by a Cobb County jury, but was acquitted on charges of aggravated sexual battery. Cobb Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster sentenced Reid to serve 20 years, with 15 of those years in prison and the rest on probation.

On Nov. 18, 2012, Reid came into his niece’s room after she had gone to bed, and laid down on the bed with her. He said she was his best friend, asked if she trusted him, then began “kissing her, fondling her, and pulling down her underpants and touching her,” the statement from the DA’s Office reads in part.

The girl told Reid she needed a drink of water and was allowed to leave, but immediately went to her mother’s room to tell her what was going on. Reid was arrested immediately.

During testimony, the girl said that Reid visited once or twice a year and she was not particularly close with him.

“This brave, beautiful young lady was just nine years old when her innocence was stolen,” Assistant District Attorney Hannah Palmquist said. “What happened to her is sickening. But for all the wrong he did, she did exactly the right thing: She told a trusted adult immediately. The defendant, meanwhile, said, ‘She must have had a bad dream.’”

Reid’s trial began on Oct. 13, and jurors returned a conviction against him on Friday. He was sentenced on Monday morning.