Suspended Indianapolis priest charged with sex crimes

A suspended Catholic priest in Indiana is facing charges alleging he sexually abused a child in 2016.

The Rev. David Marcotte of Indianapolis is charged in suburban Hamilton County with child
solicitation, vicarious sexual gratification and dissemination of matter harmful to minors.

The Indianapolis Archdiocese suspended the 32-year-old Marcotte from public ministry in February after its victim assistance coordinator learned of the abuse allegations. It said that at the time of the alleged abuse, Marcotte was assigned to St. Malachy Parish in Brownsburg and St. Martin of Tours Parish in Martinsville.

Suspended Indianapolis priest charged with sex crimes

UPDATED::72-year-old Rush County pastor accused of luring girls into office with candy, molesting them - TheIndyChannel.com Indianapolis, IN

UPDATE::   Rush County pastor acquitted in child molestation case

A jury found a Rush County pastor who had been accused of molesting children in his congregation not guilty.

Garry Evans, 73, was acquitted of all 14 criminal charges against him last week in a case in which he had been charged with molesting at least six girls inside his office at Rushville Baptist Temple where he was pastor at the time.

UPDATE::  Evans trial moved to September

A trial slated to begin earlier this month has been postponed until Sept. 3. According to Rush County Prosecutor Phil Caviness, multiple charges originally filed with the court were modified. As a result, defense attorney’s requested were granted for the continuance.

UPDATE:: Antigay pastor and wife arrested after he’s busted for luring kids with candy then molesting them

Well, now, he’s back in jail. This time for trespassing and resisting law enforcement.

Earlier this week, Evans and his wife Gay stormed their son’s property. Apparently he and his parents had a falling out after the sex scandal broke last October.

The Evans circled their son’s yard then banged on the door. When their daughter-in-law told them they “weren’t welcome there,” they refused to leave and remained screaming and yelling on the front porch until the daughter-in-law chased them off with a baseball bat.

Police were called. According to reports, when they intervened, Evans and his wife became “verbally abusive and physically resisted officers.” They were arrested. Gay eventually posted bond and was released, but Garry remains in custody.

But the drama doesn’t stop there.

After getting home, Gay allegedly left her estranged son several threatening voicemails, which her daughter-in-law then shared on Facebook.

UPDATE:: Despite child molestation charges, Rushville pastor still appears to lead church

An Indiana pastor appears to still be the leader of his church despite the child molestation and solicitation charges he faces and his attempt to take his own life (edited to add URL) after additional charges came down on Friday.

Garry Evans is listed as pastor on the sign in front of Rushville Baptist Temple Church, and now people living doors away want to know why no one from the church is speaking out.

“It’s wrong. Pure evil. There’s evil in that church,” said Tim Guck, who lives next door.

The man the church says leads their worship has led the Rushville Police Department down a frightening path of child molestation allegations.

A 72-year-old pastor in Rush County is accused of molesting multiple young children in his congregation.

Garry Evans, Pastor of the Rushville Baptist Temple was arrested Wednesday evening during a traffic stop.

According to court documents, the investigation began after a 3-year-old child who attends the church told her mother that Evans had taken her into his office to give her candy then "pulled his pants down" and made her touch his genitals.

72-year-old Rush County pastor accused of luring girls into office with candy, molesting them - TheIndyChannel.com Indianapolis, IN

Dubois Co. pastor charged after failing to report alleged child abuse

A local pastor is accused of not reporting a case of alleged child abuse.

Back in May we reported the arrest of Dexter Hensley for child molestation and sexual battery. We are finding out the pastor at Hensley’s church in Jasper knew about the allegations.

According to the affidavit, the juveniles told detectives about the alleged incidents, which they say happened at Jasper Apostolic Church where Hensley attended.

Jasper Police say they learned Pastor Howard Geck was made aware of the allegations two-years ago, but failed to report them to authorities.

Geck was charged this week with failure to make a report, which is a class B misdemeanor. By Indiana law, anyone who has reason to believe a child has been abused must report it to law enforcement or DCS.

Dubois Co. pastor charged after failing to report alleged child abuse

'It's the wrong thing. It should never happen...' Terre Haute pastor charged with voyeurism after allegedly snapping photos in Planet Fitness bathroom area

A local pastor was arrested for taking videos of men inside a locker room.

That's according to police.

His name is David Nathaniel Powell.

He is facing one felony count of voyeurism.

After an online search, News 10 learned Powell is the Pastor at Grace Temple Church on Maple Avenue in Terre Haute.

'It's the wrong thing. It should never happen...' Terre Haute pastor charged with voyeurism after allegedly snapping photos in Planet Fitness bathroom area

Donald Miller illegally collected thousands of Native American bones, FBI says - The Washington Post

By all accounts, the amateur museum that Donald C. Miller ran out of his home in the cornfields of central Indiana wasn’t exactly a secret. Newspaper reporters, Boy Scout troops and residents of the rural farming community of Waldron, Ind., were all invited to drop in and look around in his basement, where glass cases covered most of the walls. Tens of thousands of rare cultural artifacts were on display — including pre-Columbian pottery, Ming Dynasty jade, an Egyptian sarcophagus and a dugout canoe that had traveled down the Amazon River. And the eccentric nonagenarian collector was part of the attraction.

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But when the FBI’s art crime detectives showed up and began sifting through Miller’s extensive collection in April 2014, suspecting that many of the relics carefully laid out in the cabinets had been obtained in violation of antiquities laws, they came across something that horrified them: about 2,000 human bones, nearly all of which are thought to have been taken from ancient Native American burial sites.

“To the best of our knowledge right now, those 2,000 bones represent about 500 human beings,” Tim Carpenter, who heads the FBI’s art theft unit, told CBS News in an interview that aired Tuesday. “It’s very staggering."

Miller, a Christian missionary and ham radio operator who claimed to have worked on the Manhattan Project, died at age 91 in 2015, nearly a year after the FBI raided his home and seized about 42,000 items whose cultural value was said to be immeasurable. Until this week, officials had provided little information about the case, and had declined to go into detail about exactly what the art crimes detectives had found inside the prolific collector’s home.

Donald Miller illegally collected thousands of Native American bones, FBI says - The Washington Post

Man accused of molesting 4-year-old girl at Hobart church day care - Post-Tribune

A Hobart man is accused of molesting a 4-year-old girl at a Hobart church day care, court records show.

Joseph Ray Hudson, 23, is no longer employed with Hobart Assembly or the church’s Growing Hearts Daycare, Pastor Ryan McDowell said Tuesday.

Hudson was charged Monday in Lake Superior Court with child molesting, a level 4 felony, for an incident that allegedly occurred Sept. 25 at the day care in the 7500 block of East Ridge Road, court records show.

Police received a report from a man who said his daughter returned home from day care and said she was stung by a bee on her calf, a probable cause affidavit states. Hudson brought the girl into a classroom, put her on his lap and inappropriately touched her, according to the affidavit.

Man accused of molesting 4-year-old girl at Hobart church day care - Post-Tribune

Northwest Indiana Priest Accused Of Lying About Attack « CBS Chicago

A Northwest Indiana priest failed to adhere to (at least) one of the Catholic Church’s ’10 Commandments’–‘Thou Shalt Not Lie’–after accusations surfaced that he made up a story about being attacked at the altar in August.

Father Basil Hutsko of Saint Michael Byzantine, a Catholic church in Merrillville, has been placed on administrative leave following allegations that he lied about being the victim of a hate
crime.

The parish discredited his claims that he was beaten while he was praying at the altar last summer.

Northwest Indiana Priest Accused Of Lying About Attack « CBS Chicago

14-Year-Old Charged In Smothering Deaths Of Baby Sister, Brother - Eagle Country 99.3

A Ripley County teenager allegedly told investigators he took the lives of his younger brother and sister in order to spare them from hell.

“In my time here, which has been 19 years, I'm not sure that I've seen anything quite as disturbing and final,” Ripley County Prosecutor Ric Hertel said at a press conference about the case Wednesday.

Nickalas Kedrowitz, 14, was the subject of a juvenile delinquency petition filed in Ripley County court on September 6. He faces two counts of murder.

14-Year-Old Charged In Smothering Deaths Of Baby Sister, Brother - Eagle Country 99.3

See also:: ‘He’s not the monster’: Mom defends son charged with killing his siblings

Christina McCartney is defending her teenage son who is accused of murdering his two younger siblings.

"He's not the monster that people are trying to portray him as. It's a mother's worst nightmare to have such a precious family and then to wake up to the worst possible outcomes," said McCartney.

UPDATED::Amish midwives charged with illegally practicing medicine - WANE

UPDATE::  2 Adams County Amish woman get probation in midwifery case

Two elderly northeastern Indiana Amish women have been sentenced to two years on probation and ordered not to practice midwifery or medicine after authorities learned they were acting as midwives without any certifications or formal training.

WANE-TV reports an Adams County judge sentenced 74-year-old Sylvia C. Eicher and 73-year-old Lydiann S. Schwartz on Friday. Both pleaded guilty last month to practicing midwifery without a license.

Two Amish midwives have been charged in Adams County with illegally practicing medicine and administering medication to mothers and babies.

Sylvia C. Eicher and Lydiann S. Schwartz, both 73, both face felony charges of Practicing Medicine without a License and Unlawful Possession of a Syringe related to investigations in May 2017.

The two appeared in court Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. where they pleaded not guilty.  Both of them decided to represent themselves.

Amish midwives charged with illegally practicing medicine - WANE

Prosecutor: Sex charge involving child is just first stemming from churches in South Haven, Indiana, and Michigan | Porter County News | nwitimes.com

A 29-year-old South Haven, Indiana, woman has been charged with having sex with a 15-year-old boy in what is expected to be a growing case linked to churches in South Haven and Michigan.

Valerie Clabaugh is charged with a felony count of sexual misconduct with a minor, according to court records.

The boy reportedly told police he and Clabaugh had sex multiple times at her home on Capitol Road in South Haven last summer when she was 28.

The incidents came to light when the boy's mother reported it to police and said her former husband had been dating Clabaugh until their son became involved with her, according to charging information.

Police said when they approached Clabaugh about the allegations, she said she wanted her attorney, Gary Germann, present.

Prosecutor: Sex charge involving child is just first stemming from churches in South Haven, Indiana, and Michigan | Porter County News | nwitimes.com

Indiana mom cites Bible in RFRA defense of coat hanger wrath

An Indianapolis woman who beat her 7-year-old son with a coat hanger is citing Indiana's religious freedom law as a defense against felony child abuse charges, saying her choice of discipline comes straight from her evangelical Christian beliefs.

The woman quoted biblical Scripture in court documents. She said that a parent who "spares the rod, spoils the child," and: "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol."

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, enacted in 2015, says the government cannot intrude on a person's religious liberty unless it can prove a compelling interest in imposing that burden, and can do so in the least restrictive way.

The woman, a Burmese refugee granted political asylum in the U.S., also is pointing to cultural differences as part of her defense. The case is complicated by an Indiana Supreme Court decision, one law expert said, that gives parents the right to use cords and belts — and possibly even coat hangers — to punish their children.

Indiana mom cites Bible in RFRA defense of coat hanger wrath

Former Batesville pastor and JCD coach accused of child seduction | Local News | batesvilleheraldtribune.com

Indiana State Police detectives arrested a Ripley County man March 25 at about 12:30 p.m. on charges stemming from a two-month investigation into allegations of child seduction that occurred while he was an assistant coach with the Jac-Cen-Del High School girls basketball program in Osgood, said Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, ISP Versailles District public information officer.

Detectives were contacted after Jac-Cen-Del Community School Corp. officials became aware of allegations of improper behavior between Chad Pindell, 36, Napoleon, and a 17-year-old JCDHS female student. According to Wheeles, “At the time the incident occurred, Pindell was a volunteer assistant coach” for the girls basketball team. When the report was made, Pindell was removed from his position with the school district.

Pindell was an assistant coach "for the past 10 years or so" and was a teacher for JCDCSC during that period, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Ripley Superior Court March 26. ISP Detective Peter Tressler "learned that Pindell had left (the) teaching position this last August 2017 to become the pastor of discipleship at the Batesville Christian Church" while he continued to be involved as an assistant coach with the girls basketball program.

UPDATED: Former Batesville pastor and JCD coach accused of child seduction | Local News | batesvilleheraldtribune.com

COURT DOCUMENTS: Pastor's wife admits to stealing church funds to buy drugs

We now have more information surrounding the arrest of a former church employee.

On Friday, police arrested 42-year-old Heather Riggs.

Riggs was an employee of Victory Christian Church in Seelyville.

According to court documents, the investigation started about two weeks ago when police arrested Jason Reed after a traffic stop.

Reed was in possession of a controlled substance.

Police say Reed told investigators he was selling drugs to Heather Riggs, adding she was using the church's money to buy the heroin and pills.

Reed told police he was the pastor of the church's wife.

COURT DOCUMENTS: Pastor's wife admits to stealing church funds to buy drugs

Former Plymouth pastor pleads guilty to drug, sex charges | Public Safety | southbendtribune.com

 A former Marshall County pastor pleaded guilty Wednesday to drug and sex charges.

James Irwin, 68, pleaded guilty to a Level 6 Felony of dealing in a schedule II controlled substance and a Class A Misdemeanor of patronizing a prostitute, according to the Marshall County Prosecutor's Office. Six other charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

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The former director of the Care and Share Ministries in Plymouth, Irwin was arrested last August after police worked with three women who said Irwin had discussed exchanging drugs or money with them for sexual favors. On one of the occasions Irwin gave a woman $10 and two white pills as a payment for a sexual act to occur at a later time when his wife was out of town, according to court documents.

Former Plymouth pastor pleads guilty to drug, sex charges | Public Safety | southbendtribune.com

Former Indy youth pastor charged with federal sex crimes involving 14-year-old girl | FOX59

 A former youth pastor and registered sex offender is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl.

The United States Attorney announced 51-year-old Maurice Frazier is facing numerous felony charges of sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography.

The suspect met the victim while working with Nazarene Missionary Baptist Church on 38th St.

Former Indy youth pastor charged with federal sex crimes involving 14-year-old girl | FOX59

Trial set for August for Jeffersonville High School student char - WDRB 41 Louisville News

Michael Begin faces 20 new child molestation charges.

The 18-year-old former Jeffersonville High School student was in court Monday morning accused of molesting children between 3 and 7 years of age.

A judge set a trial date of August and ordered Begin held on a $100,000 full cash bond.

Begin was already accused of molesting two 6-year-old girls in October, when he was a student at Jeffersonville High School.

Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said, "These molesting allegations arose from incidents that occurred at the YMCA in Jeffersonville and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Jeffersonville." 

Trial set for August for Jeffersonville High School student char - WDRB 41 Louisville News

Indiana GOP councilman charged with 3 counts of child molestation after allegedly assaulting two ten-year-old girls

Republican Indianapolis city councilman Jeff Miller has been charged with three counts of child molesting, fondling or touching after two 10-year-old girls alleged he inappropriately touched and massaged them, Fox 59 reports.

The charges come after Channel 8 WISH-TV Friday reported Miller was under investigation for an Oct. 20 incident listed as “sex crime — child fondling.” Authorities reportedly executed a search warrant in Miller’s home the following day.

According to the affidavit, Miller submitted the two young girls to fondling between Sept. 1 and Oct. 20, including massaging one of the victim’s legs and patting her buttocks. During a search of Miller’s home, police looked for “a bin of massage stuff.”

Indiana GOP councilman charged with 3 counts of child molestation after allegedly assaulting two ten-year-old girls

Former Mitchell Youth Pastor Sentenced - WBIW.com / Local

Former youth pastor at Mitchell Church of Christ Gary Spear was sentenced Wednesday in Lawrence County Superior Court.

On October 4th Spear pleaded guilty to the crime after a negotiated plea agreement.

Judge Michael Robbins followed the plea agreement and sentenced Spear to 1.5 years of house arrest and 1.5 years to supervised probation on one count of child seduction, a Class D felony.

Former Mitchell Youth Pastor Sentenced - WBIW.com / Local

Hebron Christian Academy replacement teacher's defense claims boy made up sex charges to change schools | Crime and Courts | nwitimes.com

A Wheatfield woman accused of having sexual activity with a student while serving as a replacement teacher at Hebron Christian Academy is claiming the boy made up the accusations to leave the school.

"He wanted to go to another school," defense attorney Steve Bush said.

The Crown Point boy was having problems with Hebron Christian Academy's basketball program and coach, and wanted to attend the school where his brother coached, Bush said.

Yet the accuser, who is now 19, took the witness stand a short time later Tuesday and reiterated his charges against Jennifer McLeod, who was 34 at the time of the alleged offenses in 2015.

Hebron Christian Academy replacement teacher's defense claims boy made up sex charges to change schools | Crime and Courts | nwitimes.com

Sound-light tech charged in molestation | Police/Fire | The Journal Gazette

Sixteen felony charges of child molesting and related misconduct have been filed against a 47-year-old local sound and light technician whose victim said she endured years of abuse before she finally went to police when she was 18 years old.

Lawrence M. Davis, also known as Lance Davis, of the 300 block of Third Street, started abusing the young girl when she was 5 by performing a sex act on her, according to court documents. He also showed her some porn during the first incident, a practice he continued over the next 13 years.

The pornography included what the victim referred to as “normal pornography” in magazines and photos from Davis' “Porn Bucket,” and some that included animals and nude children. When she was older, the victim said she was shown pornography on a computer, according to court documents.

Sound-light tech charged in molestation | Police/Fire | The Journal Gazette