BAXTER COUNTY, Ark. — A registered sex offender has been sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to breaking into a Baxter County building and living there for several weeks.
Ronnie Reece, 62, pleaded guilty on charges of breaking or entering and failure to comply with registration and reporting requirements, according to a sentencing order. Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Judge Andrew Bailey imposed concurrent 36-month sentences in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. A habitual offender charge was dismissed.
Baxter County sheriff’s deputies arrested Reece on Sept. 25, 2025, after a citizen notified authorities about a man on their property claiming he had not eaten in weeks. The caller suspected the man had been staying in a building across the street.
When deputies arrived, they found Reece receiving aid from a Baxter Health ambulance crew. According to the sheriff’s office, Reece was recently released from Missouri’s Farmington Correctional Center on July 8, where he had been serving time for sex crime offenses. Sheriff John Montgomery stated that Reece initially declined to answer deputies' questions about his living arrangements and was transported to a hospital for treatment.
The following day, with the owner's consent, a deputy entered the building where Reece was suspected of staying. Inside, they discovered signs of forced entry and a makeshift cot on the floor. Montgomery later confirmed that Reece admitted to breaking into the building when interviewed at the hospital.
Following his discharge, Reece was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on charges of breaking or entering and failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
According to court records, Reece was previously convicted in Missouri in 2010 on charges of statutory rape and sodomy and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for those offenses.