NEW PALESTINE — A convicted child molester was arrested Wednesday after residents spotted him walking through a New Palestine neighborhood without any pants on, police said.
Taylor Rainey, 21, of New Palestine, was arrested after police were called to first block of Sugar Creek Drive following reports from neighbors that a man was walking in the area half-naked.
One woman told police she saw Rainey, who was convicted of child molestation in 2013, standing on her deck and staring inside her bedroom.
She asked him why he was standing there with no pants on, and Rainey said he had run from a party that had been broken up by police, court documents state.
He asked her if he could come in and borrow some clothes.
She said she invited him inside and gave him sweatpants and a cigarette. She told police Rainey didn’t put the sweatpants on until she asked him to. She then asked him to leave her house and he did, documents state.
As police arrived to the neighborhood, Rainey reportedly grabbed clothing that was on the ground and ran.
Police caught up with Rainey, who was hiding in a patch of weeds behind a nearby residence. They ordered him at gunpoint to appear from his hiding place, and he was taken into custody, court document state.
Rainey told police he was out for a run and he had taken his shirt off because he was sweaty; he at first denied having been without pants, court documents state.
Rainey was being held without bond at Hancock County Jail until an initial court hearing scheduled for today.
He faces charges of public nudity, voyeurism and fleeing law enforcement after the incident that ended in police drawing their guns.
Resisting law enforcement is a Class A misdemeanor; public nudity is a Class C misdemeanor, and voyeurism is a Class B misdemeanor.
