A Switz City man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for child molesting.

Tyson Cole Graves, 25, Switz City, was booked into the Greene County Jail yesterday, Thursday, February 18, to begin serving his sentence.

Graves was 22 years old when he was arrested on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, by GCSD Det. James O’Malley.

O’Malley, who now serves as Worthington Town Marshal, was a detective at the Greene County Sheriff’s Department at the time of Graves arrest, and O’Malley was the lead investigator in the Graves case.

Earlier that summer, an incident involving Graves was reported to the Linton Police Department and LPD Officer Debbie McDonald conducted initial interviews. When it was determined the incident took place outside the Linton area, GCSD Det. O’Malley took the case.

Graves was accused of, and allegedly admitted to, inappropriate behavior with a small child he was babysitting.

Greene County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Keven McIntosh filed a criminal case against Graves charging him with:

• 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, a Level 6 felony.

Graves bonded out of jail but was soon back in.

The investigation was ongoing following his arrest, and Det. O’Malley reported that numerous pornographic photographs of a local, underage female were found during a forensic examination of a cell phone that belonged to Graves.

Another criminal case was filed, a warrant issued, and Graves was booked back into the Greene County Jail on Thursday, September 13, 2018. Again he bonded out to wait while these cases made their way through the court system.

A jury trial was scheduled then vacated when the parties came to an agreement.

In mid-December, 2020, Graves entered into a negotiated plea agreement with his defense attorney, Public Defender Ashley Dyer, and Chief Deputy Prosecutor McIntosh.

The Greene County Probation Department conducted a pre-sentence investigation and filed a report with the court and a change of plea hearing was scheduled for yesterday, Thursday, February 18.

Under the terms of the negotiated plea agreement, the case involving child pornography was dismissed. So was count 2 in the child molesting case – count 2 involved performing sexual conduct in the presence of a minor, a Level 6 felony.

During the change of plea hearing, Graves admitted guilt and changed his plea to guilty of count 1 – child molesting involving fondling or touching with a child under the age of 14, a Level 4 felony.

Greene Superior Judge Dena Martin then sentenced Graves to nine years in the Indiana Department of Corrections.

In handing down the sentence, the court considered the fact that Graves took responsibility for his actions and admitted guilt, cooperated with the investigation, and had no prior criminal convictions as mitigating factors.

Aggravating factors included: That Graves was in a position of having the care, custody and control of the victim in this case at the time the incident took place; that the victim was younger than 12 years old at the time – the victim was in fact three years old; and that the harm, injury, loss or damage suffered by the victim was significant and was greater than the elements necessary to prove the commission of the offense.

No time was suspended.

Graves was credited with 25 days already served, following his arrests.

He will get good time credit as long as he remains eligible. For this level of felony, Indiana law requires defendants to serve at least 75 percent of the time sentenced.

In addition, after he serves his time, Graves will be required to register on the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry for the rest of his life.

Other stories with more details about these cases have been posted previously on GreeneStreets. To find them, click on the Tag “Tyson Cole Graves” below this story.