Show-Me State Times

A registered sex offender from Franklin County, Missouri, has been sentenced to eight years in prison after being found with a firearm following a road rage incident. U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp handed down the sentence on Tuesday.

Leroy Richard Walker Jr., 54, pleaded guilty in April to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He admitted firing a shot from a pistol during an altercation on November 25, 2022, after he believed another driver had passed him and then pulled in front of him as they exited Interstate 44 in Eureka, Missouri.

Authorities also investigated Walker for violating sex offender restrictions that prohibit contact with schools and school bus stops. On November 28, 2023, he approached two children waiting for the school bus in Franklin County. Later, on May 14, 2024, Walker stopped near a high school and spoke with a 16-year-old girl waiting for her bus. He offered her a ride home and dropped her at a commercial business; during the ride, he put his arm around her. The victim told authorities she entered Walker’s car because she felt pressured and feared he might harm her.

Walker has previous felony convictions including first-degree assault, attempted forcible rape, armed criminal action, burglary, tampering, stealing a motor vehicle, and escape.

The case was investigated by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, the Pacific Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

"This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc."