Trial date set four years after alleged molestation

Wanda English Burnett, Editor

Justin McGuire, 23, Madison, has been charged in Ripley Circuit Court with Child Molesting, a Class B Felony.

Detective Thomas Baxter of the Indiana State Police, Versailles Post, received information on July 2, 2007, from the Port Orange Florida Police Department about a report of child molesting that allegedly took place in Ripley County in January of 2004.

According to court records, the alleged victim was visiting family members when the crime took place. She would have been about 10-years-old at that time. Information given to police noted that the child was taken to the basement by McGuire, where he put tape over her mouth and molested her.

Initially, when McGuire was questioned at his place of employment in Sunman, on July 3, 2007 he denied having ever touched his niece. He offered to take a polygraph test. The probable cause goes on to state that McGuire was interviewed further where he revealed he had “engaged in sexual intercourse with (the victim), and that this had occurred at his father’s residence on Old Michigan Rd. in Ripley County.”

According to information from Jail Officer Sara Hildebrand, McGuire was incarcerated on October 5, 2007 and bonded out on October 10, 2007. According to Prosecutor Ric Hertel, trial dates have been set for February 5, 6, and 7, 2008.