Ransome Lee Moody - Repeat Sex Offender

In October, probation officials went to court, asking Holzberg to lift the order, saying no program exists for someone like Moody, who officials say "continues to present a high degree of risk of sexually assaultive behavior." Officials consider him so dangerous that Moody has been denied admission to sex-offender programs in Connecticut and in seven other states. Counselors have testified that he's virtually untreatable.


A convicted rapist who was released from prison in August after serving 30 years for three rapes in Middletown was back in custody Monday, with bail set at $1 million.

Details of the arrest Saturday of Ransome Lee Moody, 50, by New Haven police were not released Monday, but law enforcement sources said Moody was charged with disorderly conduct and violation of probation.

A Superior Court judge during a hearing Monday in New Haven raised Moody's bail to $1 million. He was being held late Monday at the New Haven Correctional Center. He had been staying at a drug-treatment program in the Fair Haven section of New Haven.

Since his release, Moody has been the subject of a handful of frustrating court hearings aimed at dealing with housing and treatment issues for him since probation officials briefly lost track of him in Middletown on Sept. 26.

Moody, a career criminal, was not arrested after the September incident. Police found him at a Middletown hospital, where he had sought help for suicidal thoughts. He told one official that he wanted to "end it" by either hurting himself or someone else. But the search for Moody sparked concern among law enforcement authorities familiar with Moody's brutal crimes and his history of probation violations.

After getting out of prison, Moody, who is indigent, lived in homeless shelters in Hartford and New Haven. He has not been admitted to a mental health facility because no psychiatric evidence exists that he is a danger. And probation officers have not been able to find a residential sex offender treatment program for Moody, an order imposed on him by Judge Robert L. Holzberg during a probation violation hearing in July 2004.

In October, probation officials went to court, asking Holzberg to lift the order, saying no program exists for someone like Moody, who officials say "continues to present a high degree of risk of sexually assaultive behavior." Officials consider him so dangerous that Moody has been denied admission to sex-offender programs in Connecticut and in seven other states. Counselors have testified that he's virtually untreatable.

At a Nov. 15 court hearing in Middletown, Holzberg ordered that Moody remain in the New Haven drug rehabilitation program under 24-hour supervision while officials explored a transfer to a sober house.

At a follow-up hearing Dec. 19, a probation officer testified that four sober houses in New Haven and Hartford refused to admit Moody. Management at the homes said they were not equipped to deal with registered sex offenders, and residents of the homes, who are recovering substance abusers who work and share housekeeping tasks, voted against taking Moody in.

The judge urged officials to arrange mental health counseling and line up financial assistance for Moody as soon as possible. Officials have said they are working to get Social Security or rental assistance benefits for Moody so he can live independently.

It was not known late Monday how Moody's latest arrest — his fourth violation of probation — would affect the recent court hearings. The judge on Monday transferred the New Haven case to Middletown, where Moody is scheduled to appear on Thursday.