A teen who came forward about an incident of child molesting that occurred when the family lived in Linton back in 2012, led to an investigation by DCS and a GCSD detective. The suspect, who now lives in Lyons, was arrested yesterday.

Robert Arlin “Buster” Thompson, 45, Lyons, was arrested by Detective Shawn Cullison of the Greene County Sheriff's Department on Thursday, May 26.

Detective Cullison’s investigation started on May 13 when he was contacted by a caseworker from the Greene County Department of Child Services (DCS) who told him they had received a report of a victim being sexually abused by Thompson in 2012 when the victim was six years old.

This incident allegedly occurred when Thompson was down on his luck and had no place to stay so he was staying with the victim's family at their residence in Linton. The victim and the victim’s family no longer live in Linton and Thompson’s current home address is in Lyons.

The incident came to light when the victim confided in her mother and her mother contacted DCS. During a subsequent forensic interview with the victim at Susie's Place, the victim was able to give a detailed explanation of what had occurred at a time when the victim's father was not home and her mother had gone to the store with other siblings leaving the victim home alone with Thompson. The incident stopped when the mother and the siblings came home from the store.

Thompson is accused of covering the victim’s mouth with one hand then penetrating the victim with his fingers in the victim’s bedroom when the victim laid down for a nap.

Detective Cullison first talked to Thompson on the phone on May 26 and then Thompson met the detective at the Greene County Sheriff's Department for an interview.

At first, Thompson denied that anything had occurred and said he didn't remember any time that the family’s children were left at home with him. After more questioning he changed his story and said they might have left him alone with the kids. He also said he did not remember anything like the incident that allegedly occurred and he thought he would remember something like that.

As the interview progressed, Thompson remembered more and allegedly admitted he remembered putting the victim down for a nap and remembered being in bed with the victim. According to Detective Cullison, after more questioning, Thompson kept remembering even more. Thompson allegedly said he was probably messed up on “spice” at the time and if they say it happened, it happened, but he just didn't remember it because he was on “spice.” By the time the interview was over, Thompson was admitting the incident saying, “I ended up touching it, I ended up doing it,” and “I think I did.”

Thompson was arrested and booked into the Greene County Jail at 5:12 PM with bond set at $40,000 surety with 10% cash allowed. He has since posted bond and been released.

A criminal case was filed against Thompson earlier today, Friday, May 27.

When he appears in Greene Superior Court for his initial hearing, he will be facing the charge of child molesting involving intercourse or deviant sex with a victim less than 14 years old, a Class A felony.

Since the incident occurred, the laws regarding classification of felonies has changed and felonies are now classified as Level One through Six. Before the law changed, felonies were classified as Class A (the most serious) through Class D (the least serious) and Thompson is being charged with a Class A felony in keeping with the law in effect at the time the incident allegedly occurred.