GREENFIELD — A young girl told police a 33-year-old man said please while asking to put his hands down her pants, court records show.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Jonathan E. Rivera, 2553 S. Eighth St., Apt. A, Camden, New Jersey, after prosecutors charged him with a Level 4 felony count of attempt to commit child molest.
Police said he tried to touch a young girl inappropriately at a home in McCordsville last summer, charging documents state. The girl and her mother reported the crime in late October, records show.
Rivera had moved to Indiana last winter to move in with his former girlfriend and left the state sometime after the incident, according to court records.
The incident occurred sometime over the summer when Rivera and the victim were both staying at a home in McCordsville.
The girl told police she woke up, and Rivera was lying next to her. While he was lying next to her, he tried to touch her under her clothes, repeatedly saying please, the girl told police.
Every time he asked, she told him no, she said. And when he tried, she pushed his hand away or moved, court documents state.
The victim told her mother about the incident months later, charging documents state.
The girl’s mother told investigators she became suspicious of Rivera, so she asked the girl if he had ever touched her. The girl told her mom Rivera asked if he could put his hands down her pants, court records show.
She then contacted police in Beech Grove, where the family lives.
Police there contacted caseworkers at the Indiana Department of Child Services, who passed the reports along to local police in late October.
By then, Rivera already had moved out of state.
Charges were filed against him late last month, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The Level 4 felony he faces carries a penalty of two to 12 years and fines up to $10,000.
