Tucker
A local man has entered a plea bargain agreement, pleading guilty to child molesting involving a 13-year-old girl as a Level 1 felony.
Joseph B. Tucker, 54, of 5012 N. Willa Way accepted a plea bargain that allows him to admit his guilt to one felony count of child molesting as a Level 1 felony. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop a second charge of child molesting, as well as a Class B misdemeanor of furnishing alcohol to a minor.
While a Level 1 felony is punishable in Indiana by 20 to 40 years in prison, if Tucker is declared a sexual predator, his sentence could be enhanced by adding another 10 years, according to Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton.
Sentencing is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6 in Worton’s courtroom. Besides imprisonment, Tucker could be ordered to pay fines of up to $10,000.
The case began on Oct. 3, 2020, with a complaint of child molesting made to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, a probable cause affidavit states.
After deputies met with the 13-year-old female victim and her guardians in their home, the girl was taken to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis for a sexual assault examination, sheriff deputies said.
Four days after the assault, the victim was questioned at Susie’s Place, a Bloomington child advocacy center for the investigation of reported child abuse and neglect. The victim said Tucker had long been an family acquaintance and she was dropped off at his home.
The girl said she was given liquor and cigarettes by the defendant, the affidavit states.
The girl told investigators that Tucker first made the victim watch pornography before he began removing her clothes and performing a sex act on her, deputies said. She told deputies she was later taken into a bedroom and forced to engage in sexual activity, court documents state.
After an arrest warrant was issued for Tucker, deputies sent both a DNA sample taken from the defendant and the sexual assault kit used to examine the victim to the Indiana State Police Laboratory which identified Tucker as the assailant, according to court records.
