Riley
10 A.M. SATURDAY UPDATE
Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge Jim Worton has reduced the bond for Nolan A. Riley, 18, of 6454 S. Jonesville Road, Columbus, to $50,000, reduced from the original $1 million.
Riley, 18, of 6454 S. Jonesville Road, Columbus, has been charged with rape, child exploitation and criminal confinement involving his pregnant 17-year-old ex-girlfriend, according to court documents.
According to Worton’s order, if the defendant posts bond and upon release from incarceration, the defendant must immediately report to Pretrial Services for Electronic/GPS Monitoring with restriction zones and schedules. As a further condition of pretrial release, the defendant shall have no contact, direct or indirect, with the alleged victim in this case. Prior to release from incarceration if defendant posts bond, he must read and sign a Pretrial Release Order and abide by all terms and conditions set out therein.
ORIGINAL STORY
A request to lower the $1 million bond of a rape suspect was taken under advisement by Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge Jim Worton Friday morning.
The bond reduction was sought by Nolan A. Riley, 18, of 6454 S. Jonesville Road, Columbus, who has been charged with rape, child exploitation and criminal confinement involving his pregnant 17-year-old ex-girlfriend.
Riley appeared over video call from the Bartholomew County Jail Friday morning as family members and friends sat in the courtroom.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Riley had picked up the 17-year-old victim on April 15. After getting food from McDonald’s, they went to Mill Race Park where Riley is accused of raping the victim after she had told him she did not want to have sex, according to the probable cause affidavit. The victim was pregnant at the time and detectives were told Riley was the father of the baby, according to court records.
Following the incident, Riley took the victim to his grandmother’s home where he attempted to sexually assault the victim again, according to court records. According to the probable cause affidavit, the victim told him she did not want this as Riley took a video of the incident.
The victim told detectives she told Riley she did not consent multiple times to the sexual act. She said she has a high risk pregnancy and was told by a medical professional to not have sex, according to court documents.
The victim also told detectives she accessed the videos Riley had taken of the incidents that occurred at Mill Race Park and the home and had sent them from his phone to hers. Detectives were able to access the videos as evidence in the case in addition to search warrants for the Facebook accounts of Riley and the victim, according to court documents. They obtained conversation threads between them in which the victim said to Riley, “I just wished you didn’t raped me,” to which Riley replied with “I do too.”
Cell phones belonging to Riley and the victim were examined by the Monroe County Regional High Tech Crime Unit. From this, detectives learned that Riley’s cell phone contained a “hidden file” containing many nude images and videos, including images of the victim, court documents state. According to the probable cause affidavit, about 43 screenshots of sexual acts between Riley and the victim were found.
Jamie Young, Riley’s mother, testified during the hearing seeking the bond reduction. Under questioning by defense attorney Brad Johnson, she testified Riley and the 17-year-old victim had been dating since September 2024. She said they continued to see each other after the alleged incident, but their relationship seemed to change around May 12.
“We didn’t realize that anything happened or that anything was wrong,” Young testified Friday.
According to Young’s testimony, Riley had been working at his job at Walmart when the warrant for his arrest was released on July 11. She said she called him and they both decided it was best for him to turn himself in, so she picked him up to turn him in, she said. She and Riley told the court that they completely complied with the investigation.
However, court documents state that after Riley’s cell phone was seized by investigators, his parents refused to allow Riley to be interviewed by law enforcement.
Following Young’s testimony, Jordan Lorenzo, representing the prosecution, called Bartholomew County Detective Andrew Densford to the stand. Densford said he had interviewed Riley and the victim and had reviewed their chat logs on Facebook Messenger. Johnson asked if he had looked into their chat logs on TikTok as the two had been sending videos to each other, to which Densford replied that he had briefly looked.
Johnson argued that since Riley is young, a lifelong resident of Columbus and doesn’t have much money to leave the jurisdiction, that he does not pose a flight risk and his bond should be lowered to around $75,000.
Lorenzo said because of the videos shared and the nature of the charges that the bond is justified.
Worton has set a change of plea hearing for Riley for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 3 and a jury trial is set for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 2.
Riley remains in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond.
