A former local volleyball coach has been arrested on five counts of felony child molesting, incidents that were alleged to have happened between 1999 and 2009.
Bruce W. Giggy, 61, of 4210 River Road, Columbus, was arrested by Columbus police on a warrant at 6:18 p.m. Wednesday, Bartholomew County Jail records show.
Giggy is accused of molesting three different children younger than age 14 during those time periods, according to documents filed in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
He was being held in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $175,000 bond, jail officials said.
A no-contact order has been granted in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 prohibiting Giggy from contact with the victims or witnesses in the case, court records state.
The allegations of child molesting originated with two of the victims providing statements to a Columbus Police Department detective, who also told the detective they believed a third victim had been molested, court documents said.
Giggy is accused of fondling the victims and attempting to have the victims fondle him, court affidavits state.
Giggy was a volleyball coach for the freshman team at Columbus North High School from 2005 to 2009 and left that job to become high school varsity volleyball coach at Columbus Christian School, officials from the schools said Friday.
Columbus Christian officials and Giggy ended his coaching affiliation with the school by mutual agreement after last fall’s volleyball season when Columbus detectives informed them there was an investigation underway involving Giggy, Columbus Christian School Administrator Kendall Wildey said.
Investigators told school officials that no one at Columbus Christian was involved in the investigation into Giddy’s misconduct, Wildey said.
Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash said there is no ongoing investigation involving any additional victims beyond those who are the subject of the current pending charges.
Although Indiana’s statute of limitations law does limit charges being filed within two years of a misdemeanor offense and five years for a felony offense, there are exceptions, including sex crimes and child molesting, which Indiana law allows prosecutors the ability to file charges up until the victim’s 31st birthday, Nash said.
For Class B and C felonies (before July 1, 2014) and Level 3, 4 and 5 felones (after June 30, 2014) the state can prosecute even after five years, if it does so within one year of discovering DNA evidence sufficient to charge, Nash said.
