Earlier this month, a former Greene County resident, who pleaded guilty to child molesting during a jury trial, appeared in court and was sentenced to 35 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections, with no time suspended.

When Damian Richards, now 27, of Terre Haute, formerly from Linton, appeared before Judge Eric Allen on Thursday, March 7, Richards was given credit for 244 days already served at that time, and sentenced to 35 years with none of it suspended.

Richards was arrested last summer on a warrant issued on charges of:

• Two counts of child molesting, where the defendant is at least 21 years of age, both Level 1 felonies,

• Child molesting involving fondling or touching with a child under the age of 14, a Level 4 felony, and

• Performing sexual conduct in the presence of a minor involving touching or fondling oneself, a Level 6 felony.

Richards was living in Linton at the time this took place.

Richards had been under investigation by Indiana State Police Master Trooper and Detective Stacy Brown. The investigation started on Thursday, June 14, when ISP Trooper Wyatt Phillips was requested to assist with a report involving a very young victim who had been interviewed by a caseworker at Susie’s Place in Bloomington.

According to information included in a probable cause document prepared by Det. Brown, during this forensic interview, which was videotaped, the child, though young, was able to explain and describe in detail the conversation and what happened during the alleged incident.  

Also on June 14, the victim had a sexual assault examination completed at the Center for Hope at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis after the alleged molestation occurred the evening of Tuesday, June 12, at a residence in Linton.

On June 15, Det. Brown interviewed both the mother of the victim and Richards. Brown said Richards told him none of the allegations were true and he thought the child had been coached.

However, Det. Brown wrote that he doubted this explanation that the child had been coached, due to the details and graphic nature of the information the child was able to provide.

Then Richards allegedly changed his story on June 20 when he was interviewed by ISP Sgt. John Campbell. During this interview, Richards allegedly confessed to sexually abusing the child, confirmed the time and place it happened was the same as the information given by the victim, and he allegedly confessed to the details, confirming the details of the incident that were provided by the victim.

The case was scheduled to go to trial by jury and in mid-February, 2019, it began with a jury seated followed by opening statements, testimony and evidence being presented. But before it ended, during a lunch recess, Richards entered into a negotiated plea agreement and agreed to plead guilty to one count of child molesting, a Level 1 felony.

His plea and the agreement were accepted by the court and Richards was convicted of the one count – the other counts were dismissed.

Before handing down the sentence, the court considered both aggravating and mitigating factors – it found the aggravating factors significantly outweighed the mitigating factors.

Mitigating factors included the fact that Richards had no history of convictions, that he had been employed since high school and had supported himself and his dependents, that he expressed remorse at the sentencing hearing and that he pled guilty and accepted responsibility for his actions. However, the last factor was given minimal weight because he didn’t plead guilty until near the end of the trial by jury and after the child had to testify during a deposition, during another hearing and during the trial.

Aggravating factors included the fact that Richards was the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother and was in the role of a parent – he violated his position of trust, that the victim was only five years of age at the time of the offense and that the nature of the abuse which the court called “heinous circumstances” indicated extremely poor character and a likelihood to re-offend.

Richards was determined to be a Credit Restricted Felon and will only earn one day of good time credit for every six days actually served. In this case, the credit restriction applies because Richards was convicted of child molesting involving sexual intercourse, deviate sexual conduct or other sexual conduct committed by a person at least 21 years of age involving a victim less than 12 years of age.

Richards was ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and he will be on parole for the rest of his life, after he serves the time.

According to DOC records, his earliest possible release date is July 6, 2048.