A former Bartholomew County Sheriff’s reserve deputy was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to a Level 4 felony charge of child molesting involving a child younger than age 14.
Larry Scott, 74, Hope, entered a plea bargain agreement in the case involving a 12-year-old boy who investigators said was molested at Ceraland Park and Campground two days before Scott’s arrest on July 22, 2018.
Additional charges of another Level 4 felony count of child molesting, two Level 6 felonies of possession of child pornography and performing sexual conduct in the presence of a minor and one count of misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia were dismissed as part of the plea bargain. Scott was also fined $2,000 as part of the sentencing as well as $185 in court costs.
Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton ordered that no time would be reduced from Scott’s 12-year sentence for good behavior.
Scott, a retired Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputy, was still serving as a reserve deputy for the department, providing night-time security at Ceraland.
“You took an oath to uphold the law, and you have disgraced that oath,” Worton said to Scott during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.
Two significant factors during the sentencing were that the child suffered emotional harm and injury, and that the boy suffers from autism, Worton said.
In reading from the presentence investigation, the judge said Scott was trying to claim he was attempting to teach the boy “life lessons” while committing the child molesting.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Worton said. “That’s the most ridiculous statement I’ve heard in years. Preposterous!”
Ceraland officials told police Scott was not on duty when the crimes took place. Immediately after the arrest, Scott’s law enforcement credentials were revoked by Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers.
Retired from the sheriff’s department, Scott was a volunteer supervisor on the night-time security detail at Ceraland, a nonprofit park, sports complex and campground located southeast of Columbus at 3989 S. County Road 525E.
Scott helped supervise Ceraland’s three security officers who patrol the campground’s 320 campsites, six cabins and five rental pop-up campers at night. Scott stayed at a camper on the Ceraland property, officials said.
The probable-cause affidavit accompanying the charges states that an Indiana State trooper had documented a complaint about child molesting at Ceraland on July 21, 2018.
Trooper Korry Clark said in his report that a 12-year-old boy told state police he had been invited to Scott’s camper/trailer and that Scott exposed himself to the boy and took a photo of the youth, whose genitals were also exposed, the probable-cause affidavit states. The two males also fondled each other while at the trailer, according to information the boy told a forensic interviewer with the Child Advocacy Center.
After Indiana State Police obtained a search warrant, they found the photograph of the boy on the suspect’s camera phone, the probable-cause affidavit states. The date and time stamp of the photo and the clothing the boy was wearing were consistent with the boy’s account of the incident, the document states.
When Scott was interviewed by state police, he said he had known the boy for about three years around the campground and said he would regularly give the boy snacks when he came by Scott’s camper.
On the day of the incident, Scott told state police that the boy invited the sexual contact between the two, the affidavit states. Scott admitted taking a picture of the boy’s exposed genitals, the document states. Scott told state police that he told the boy not to tell anyone what happened because it was not the kind of thing people talk about, according to court documents.
