A change of plea hearing was requested last week for an Edinburgh man facing multiple felonies, including rape and failure to register as a sex offender.
But Teddy Albert Allman, 49, of 200 N. Lincoln St., maintained his innocent plea during his appearance before Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin. As a result, the defendant was given a new trial date of April 20 at 8:30 a.m.
Allman is charged with a Level 1 felony count of rape when the victim is compelled by force or imminent threat of force. A Level 1 felony is considered the most serious category of crime in Indiana short of murder. A conviction could result in a prison term of between 20 to 40 years.
In addition, he is also charged with criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon as a Level 3 felony, as well as intimidation where the defendant draws or uses a deadly weapon as a Level 4 felony.
In a separate filing, prosecutors also charged Allman with failure to register as a sex offender as a Level 6 felony.
Convictions on all counts could amount to a prison term of more than 70 years behind bars, as well as $40,000 in fines. A second tentative change of plea hearing has been scheduled for March 29 at 8:30 a.m.
On the morning of Sept. 10, 2018, deputies with the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Dept. responded to a call about a rape and battery at a mobile home community in Elizabethtown. Investigators later learned the victim knew Allman, and had taken out a protective order against him prior to the attack.
Upon the arrival of the deputies, an injured woman told investigators that Allman broke into her home and used duct tape and zip-ties to bind her during the sexual assault and battery. That is according to a probable cause affidavit written by Bartholomew County Sheriff’s investigator Jason Williams.
The victim told police that Allman, who had a makeshift knife, struck her in the face multiple times and kicked her during the assault, Williams’ affidavit states.
As he held the makeshift knife to the victim’s throat, Allman allegedly took photos with his cell phone, the affidavit states.
An examination showed the woman had fresh injuries to her face, arms and hands, while bruising was evident where she had been tied up, Williams wrote.
The defendant was found a short time later in the area of the Elizabethtown Post Office. After his apprehension, police search the suspect’s truck and found a makeshift knife, a package of zip-ties, a roll of duct tape and multiple cell phones, the investigator wrote.
During questioning, Allman attempted to convince deputies the victim had seduced him. Upon further questioning, he admitted binding and confining the victim, but claimed he was forced to do so by the Aryan Brotherhood, the affidavit states.
Allman’s cell phone recorded portions of the assault, including his verbal order to the victim that she “had 30 seconds” to agree to drop the protective order or she and her family would be killed, Williams wrote.
Earlier crimes, including the ones that required him to register as a sex offender, occurred in Kentucky and Florida, according to the affidavit.
Although some setbacks in the case were the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were a number of other delays that seemed to be bogging down the case against Allman long before the novel coronavirus emerged a year ago.
His trial has been postponed eight times, according to online records. In addition, two public defenders left the case before Allman agreed to allow Michael DeArmitt to defend him. Every time a new lawyer was brought in, it resulted in further delays to allow the new attorney to become familiar with the case.
During two hearings where the defendant sought to have his case, scriptures from the Bible were read into the record as supporting evidence, online court records state.
After being examined by two court-appointed psychiatrists beginning in Feb, 2019, Allman was finally found competent to stand trial in February 2020. But that was just weeks before judges began restricting access to the courthouse and only hearing matters that were considered essential cases.
At this time, Allman remains in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $757,500 bond or 10% cash.
