When a Bloomfield man appeared in court on Tuesday, he was charged with a Level 1 felony along with two Level 4 felonies and three Level 5 felonies as a result of an investigation led by a GCSD detective into allegations of child molesting, incest and child exploitation.

Derrick Jayson Easter, 45, Bloomfield, was arrested by Detective Shawn Cullison of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department on Friday afternoon, January 21. At the time of his arrest, Easter’s home address was listed in the Bloomfield area. That has changed – court records now show he has a home address in Ellettsville.

Easter was booked in to the Greene County Jail at 2:35 p.m. with bond was set at $75,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He posted $7,500 and was released later the same day.

Easter was then scheduled to be in Greene Circuit Court for his initial hearing last Thursday, February 3, but due to the ice and snowstorm last week, the hearing had to be re-set.

This week, Easter appeared in Circuit Court on Tuesday, February 8, in front of Judge Erik Allen and was formally charged with:

Child molesting, a Level 1 felony,
Incest – victim is less than 16 years old, a Level 4 felony,
Child molesting – fondling or touching with child under the age of 14, a Level 4 felony, and
Three counts of child exploitation – manage, produce, sponsor, present, exhibit a photo, file or video, all Level 5 felonies.

Detective Cullison’s investigation started on Wednesday afternoon, January 19, when he was at Eastern Greene High School around 2 p.m. and learned that a student had told a teacher that a family member later identified as Easter had been touching her inappropriately. Det. Cullison spoke with a school counselor then with the alleged victim and explained what would happen next. The Greene County Department of Child Services was contacted and a caseworker arrived to talk briefly with the victim before transporting to Susie’s Place in Bloomington where a forensic interview was conducted.

During the interview, the alleged victim was able to describe in detail numerous incidents that had occurred over approximately a three-year period of time involving inappropriate touching and fondling and other sexual activity.

In a lengthy and thorough 14-page probable cause affidavit prepared by Det. Cullison, he shares the details of these encounters that the victim shared during the forensic interview as well as details of his interview with other witnesses and his interview with Easter. Very few of these details will be included in this story on GreeneStreets.

In addition to the inappropriate touching and sexual activity, the alleged victim also said Easter, using his cell phone, had taken numerous photographs of her and areas of her body without clothing including some obtained while she was asleep.

During his interview, Easter denied many of the allegations but allegedly did confirm the incidents – telling the story a little differently or saying he couldn’t remember the details. But according to Det. Cullison, when Easter was asked how many photos they would find of the alleged victim on his phone, Easter said multiple photos.

The last paragraph of Det. Cullison’s affidavit, when describing his interview with Easter, he writes, “When I returned to the room, I asked Derrick what brought this up now, what brought this to light this week. Derrick stated he didn’t know, he didn’t remember doing anything, the last thing he remembered doing was like a month ago.”

The affidavit continues, “I asked Derrick what happened a month ago, and Derrick stated he took a random picture. I asked Derrick to elaborate on taking a picture, and Derrick stated it was of her [a private area]. I asked Derrick if Victim 1 was awake, and Derrick said she was asleep. Derrick stated he deleted and told himself, man, you’re stupid, why are you doing that.”

Earlier in the interview, Easter had handed his cell phone over to the detective and at one point, Det. Cullison explained to Easter that anything on the phone, deleted or not, could be recovered by the phone forensic people. Easter allegedly admitted that they would find something on the phone.

Easter has been charged with a Level 1 felony, which is the most serious felony except for felony murder. He’s also charged with two Level 4 felonies, and three Level 5 felonies.

During his initial hearing on Tuesday, an order of protection ordering him to have no contact with the alleged victim was served to him in open court and a public defender was appointed to represent him. Currently, a jury trial is scheduled for July, a date that may change.