Charles Elsworth Criss, Jr., 58, Lyons, also known as Chuck or Chucky, has been in prison. He was arrested for child molesting in 2014. In 2015, he was sentenced to eight years and won’t be released from DOC authority until next February, but he was out on parole when he was arrested last week for a parole violation. As of today, he’s in trouble for the violation but he is not facing any new criminal charges.

Charles Elsworth “Chuck” Criss, mug shot courtesy of Greene County Sheriff’s Department from his arrest last week on a parole violation

Criss was in the news today but not on GreeneStreets because there really wasn’t a story to tell. It was told years ago, and I told it then, covering the case from start to finish, from the arrest to his conviction and sentencing and even a story when he was transferred out of the county to prison. I remember it.

A story on Criss at this point in time was not necessary or planned. But a long and detailed story filling up half the back page of the local newspaper might cause GreeneStreets subscribers to wonder why GreeneStreets was not covering this disturbing case of child molestation. The story did not say he had already been arrested, sentenced and sent to prison. It said Criss was currently facing two counts of child molestation. That was not correct.

Criss is not facing any new criminal charges of child molestation or anything else.

Criss was arrested in July of 2014 at the age of 50 and when he appeared in Greene Circuit Court, he was formally charged with two counts of child molesting, both as Class C felonies.

Julie Criger, an investigator from the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office, led the investigation, assisted by several other law enforcement officers and family case managers with the Greene County Department of Child Services (DCS).

Criss denied molesting two young children but he confessed after he failed a polygraph examination. After he admitted guilt, he wrote a letter of apology and entered into a negotiated plea agreement in March of 2015. Criss agreed to plead guilty to one count and the prosecution agreed to drop one count.

Investigator Criger and the prosecution asked for a sentence enhancement, saying Criss was convicted of another sex offense involving child molesting, also a Class C felony, and sentenced in Greene Circuit Court in 1995. In that earlier case, he was sentenced to four years in prison, given credit for time already served, and was released in August of 1996.

During his change of plea and sentencing hearing in May of 2015, Criss admitted he is a repeat sexual offender. At the time of his sentencing (May, 2015) before Judge Erik Allen, Criss was 51 years old.

Criss was sentenced to serve six years in prison on the felony child molesting count, and he was sentenced to serve an additional two years in prison on the sentence enhancement for a total of eight years.

The judge ordered the sentence to be fully executed, in other words, none of it was suspended. However, Criss was given credit for 295 days already served in jail from the day of his arrest to the day of his sentencing.

In early June of 2015, I wrote a story reporting that Criss was no longer in Greene County but had been transferred into Indiana DOC custody.

What’s happened since then? Well, he’s been in prison and was expected to be released on February 5, 2022.

In March of 2017, Criss petitioned the court for a sentence modification. It was denied by Judge Allen.

In September of 2017, Criss asked again for his sentence to be modified. Judge Allen again denied the request.

At some point, Criss was released by DOC on parole and was apparently living in Greene County. (I was not able to confirm the date of his parole by the time this story will be posted.) When on parole from prison, a defendant is not on probation and does not report to the Greene County Probation Department. Instead, they report to the Terre Haute Parole District and are required to follow numerous rules to remain eligible.

Criss was recently accused of violating his parole. The nature of the violation is not known at this time.

A warrant was issued for his arrest and Criss was taken into custody by Sgt. Jordan Allor of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.

Criss was booked into the Greene County Jail at 6:59 p.m. last Wednesday, September 1, and last week he appeared in the Jail Log on GreeneStreets, with the notation that he was arrested on a parole violation in a case involving felony child molesting.

As of earlier today, Criss was still in custody in the Greene County Jail where he is being held without bond.

Criss’s case will likely be considered in a hearing by the Terre Haute Parole District. The outcome is not known but he could be facing a return to prison to finish out his sentence, then to be released in February of 2022.

After he has finished serving his time and is released, he will be required to register on Indiana’s Sexual and Violent Offender’s List for the rest of his life.

The Greene County Prosecutor’s Office, specifically Investigator Julie Criger, did confirm that as of mid-day today, a new criminal case is not pending against Criss, and that Criss has not been charged with any additional charges.