Spokane County jurors today heard the life story of a 60-year-old man who has admitted to molesting 24 girls between the ages of 3 and 7, as a state prosecutor opened the trial to civilly commit the convicted sex offender for the rest of his life.

Ronald Reo Timm, of Spokane, shook his head in disagreement several times as Assistant Attorney General James Buder told jurors why they should declare Timm a sexually violent predator who is likely to reoffend if he is not kept in a secure state facility.

“Ronald Timm is a man who betrays people’s trust to do what he wants. And what he wants is to fondle little girls,” Buder said. “He is mentally ill and he’s dangerous.”

Timm, who grew up on a 2,700-acre wheat farm in Lincoln County, was convicted in 1989 of attempted statutory rape in the first degree.

But his 36-month prison sentence was suspended because he opted to go through an alternative program designed to rehabilitate sex offenders.

Read Thomas Clouse's story here.

---

---