Victims encouraged to come forward
Neck touching suspect touches local victims
Wanda English Burnett - Editor

Last week Lemuel G. Cabatuando, 27, confessed to police that he is guilty of touching women's necks against their will.

According to Indiana State Police Trooper Vance Patton, Cabatuando told him and another trooper, Joe Loyd, that he has touched several women in a variety of businesses in Ripley County, without their consent. He further admitted that he has a problem and does this because it feels good to him.

The investigation is in full swing and Trooper Patton noted there may be more victims than originally thought. He knows for sure there are some in Batesville and Versailles.

Cabatuando is reported to have gone into businesses and asked for personal help from the clerk, usually a woman under 40 years of age. He would then tell them they have an ink spot on their neck and then try to touch them and in many cases did touch them, holding his hand on their neck for several seconds.

While the behavior may seem strange to most people, it may not be thought of as criminal. However, according to Trooper Patton, it is. The perpetrator told other officers that he does this for sexual gratification.

Lawrenceburg Police Detective Jeremy Shepherd told The Versailles Republican that the suspect admitted to him he has done this for quite a
while, and does it for sexual gratification. Shepherd said police are just glad Cabatuando has been apprehended before the incidents could escalate into something more serious. He admitted he has done this for about the past four years at least twice a week. He also told police he is "already thinking about a sexual feeling before he goes into the businesses."

Presently Cabatuando is being held at the Dearborn County Jail facility on three Class D Felony counts of Sexual Battery. He was arrested by Lawrenceburg detectives on March 24.

When Trooper Patton interviewed Cabatuando on April 6, at the Dearborn County Jail, he confessed that he had acousted a number of women in Ripley County as well with the same pattern of behavior. Some have come forward and police are looking at cases in Batesville and Versailles. "I'm concerned that there are others out there that haven't come forward because they're not sure about what happened," noted the trooper.

Women are encouraged to contact Trooper Patton or Trooper Loyd at the Versailles Post of the Indiana State Police at 689-5000, if they have had a similar incident happen to them.

Cabatuando was charged with similar accounts in Ripley County in 2000. He had five counts of Battery against him and his probation was satisfied in the cases in 2002, according to court records.