By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
An Atmore man, convicted four years ago of enticing a child under the age of 12 for immoral purposes, was one of three local men turned down for parole during recent hearings by the Alabama Board of Pardons & Paroles (ABPP).
Ricky Terrell Pratt, now 24, was arrested in 2017 and sentenced in 2019 to serve 10 years in prison after he pled guilty to a charge of luring the child into a room and inappropriately touching her.
He was released on parole in late September 2020 but arrested a day later when he committed two violations of the Sex Offenders Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) by (a) contacting his victim and (b) spending the night in the same house with his victim.
Pratt, who is serving his time at Easterling Correctional Center, had served 2 years, 3 months and 29 days of the sentence on the date of his hearing. Unless he is again granted parole or receives a pardon, he will remain behind bars until September 14, 2027.
Two other Atmore men, one of whom is not included in online data made public by Alabama Department of Corrections officials, were also rejected for parole during December 13, 2022, hearings.
No information or mugshot was available for inmate Anthony Gee, who was one of those denied parole. No details could be found online on his conviction, but published reports show that Atmore Police Department officers apprehended Gee and an accomplice in August 2002 after the pair kicked in the door of a Fourth Street residence.
The would-be robbers apparently planned to burglarize the home but were apparently unaware that anyone was inside. The startled homeowners chased the suspects and were able to give police solid descriptions that led to the pair’s eventual arrest.
Usually, when no information is available on a state inmate, it is because the conviction was issued under provisions of the state’s Youthful Offender Act. Gee qualified for such protection.
The other Atmore man who was rejected in his bid for parole is Buddy Lee Roberson, who was sentenced in 2018 to serve 20 years for second-degree assault, a Class B Offense Against a Person, and two counts of possessing or receiving a controlled substance.
The initial charges — included felony domestic violence (strangulation) and possession of methamphetamine — were lodged by Flomaton police. Roberson avoided arrest for a while by moving to Baldwin County, but he was taken into custody there by U.S. Marshals and brought back to Escambia County. He was in possession of cocaine when the marshals took him in, representing the other drug charge for which he was convicted.
Roberson, currently housed at Fountain Correctional Facility, has served 5 years and 3 months of his sentence. His minimum release date without parole or a pardon is October 16, 2032.
Prison was nothing new to Roberson when he was most recently returned to state custody. He served all but a few days of a 5-year sentence he received in 2010 after a conviction on drug possession and assault charges and was imprisoned in 2005 for a drug violation.