Sex Offender Who Possessed Gun, Approached Children Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday sentenced a registered sex offender caught with a pistol after a road rage shooting to eight years in prison.

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

Walker was also investigated twice for violating the sex offender restrictions barring him from schools and school bus stops. He admitted approaching and speaking with two children who were waiting for the school bus on Nov. 28, 2023, in Franklin County. On May 14, 2024, Walker pulled up in front of a high school in Franklin County, Missouri and began speaking with a 16-year-old girl who was also waiting for the school bus. He offered her a ride home and dropped her at a commercial business. On the way, he put his arm around the victim. The victim told authorities that she got into Walker’s car because she felt pressured by him and believed he could grab or hurt her.

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

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, the Pacific Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the case. 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.