Wanda English Burnett
Editor

Less than a year into a ten-year probation sentence for sexual misconduct with a minor, Joseph Dale Green, 50 of Osgood, has been arrested for violating his probation.

While officials wouldn’t say exactly what Green had done, he was “around children” which is a violation of his probation contract. A concerned citizen had called in a tip to the Ripley County Sheriff’s Office, who worked with the probation office to make the arrest in the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 27.
According to Ripley Publishing Co. files, Green pled guilty in an open plea agreement. He was charged with a Class B Felony, a crime that could have carried up to 20 years imprisonment.

While Prosecutor Ric Hertel asked for Green to receive a 12-year sentence with only two suspended, Circuit Court Judge Carl Taul gave the defendant no jail time and placed him on ten years probation.
The prosecutor argued that Green had “groomed” the 14-year-old in the case, and had deliberately drove to a designated place (near a school) where he admitted to having oral sex with her. The crime took place in February of 2008.

Defense attorney for the defendant, Mark Jones, asked the Judge for leniency saying Green had no prior criminal history and was a long-time employee of Batesville Casket.

In an article published in The Versailles Republican July 2 the sheriff’s office was performing a routine round up of sex offenders and reported that Green had not registered on the sex registry initially within the seven-days of his court hearing on June 16, 2009. He did, however, register by June 29, 2009, according to the report.

Green had not had a court appearance as of press time, but Sheriff Tom Grills said the defendant now faces up to ten years in the Department of Corrections.

The sheriff’s office monitors all sex offenders on the registry on a regular basis and noted that Theodore Gardner, 43, of Holton, was recently taken into custody in Rhode Island for failing to register in Ripley County. Gardner will be extradited back to Ripley County to face this charge.