NEW PALESTINE — A woman told police a neighbor came into her apartment on the pretense of bumming a cigarette and tried to force himself on her, according to court documents.
The alleged incident occurred in the summer of 2016 and was immediately reported to police, records show; but the suspect evaded capture for more than two years before he was apprehended this week and booked into the Hancock County Jail.
Wade Silvers, 45, 2205 Ruth Drive, Indianapolis, faces four felony charges, including a count of attempted rape, records show. He was arrested Wednesday morning on a warrant that was issued in July 2016.
Silvers was living in New Palestine when the crime allegedly occurred.
A woman told New Palestine Police Department investigators that Silvers lived near her, and she considered him an acquaintance.
One evening, she told police she heard a knock on her front door, and when she answered it, she found Silvers standing there.
The man asked if he could have a cigarette; and the woman told police she invited Silvers inside while she looked for a carton, she said.
Silvers closed the door behind himself after following the woman inside. Then, he started making crude remarks about the woman and her appearance, she told police. He said he’d been watching her for some time, and referenced specific articles of clothing he’d observed her wearing in the past, she told police.
Then, the man grabbed her and tried to force himself on her, the woman told investigators, according to court documents.
After several minutes of resisting Silvers and trying to escape him, the woman’s boyfriend returned home and Silvers released her, the woman told police.
Silvers chatted with the woman’s boyfriend for a short time, acting “completely normal,” she said, before he finally left the apartment, court documents state.
The woman said she confided in her boyfriend when had just happened, and they immediately called the police, court documents state.
Officers interviewed the woman and her boyfriend the next day.
Police sought an interview with Silvers, but he declined to come to the department and talk to investigators. While on the phone with an officer however, Silvers made a remark about not believing the woman’s accusations, according to court documents.
“(Silvers) said if he had done what they were accusing him of he would have jetted out of the back door when (the woman’s boyfriend) got home,” court documents state. “(Silvers) said he asked his wife what she would have done in the same situation and she told him she would have fought back, (but the victim) didn’t have any marks on her.”
Silvers faces: one Level 3 felony count of attempted rape; one Level 6 felony count of attempted sexual battery; and two Level 6 felony counts of sexual battery.
The Level 3 felony he faces carries a penalty range of three to 16 years in prison. The Level 6 felonies he faces carries a penalty range of six months to 2½ years in prison.
Silvers was being held in the Hancock County Jail at press time. He was expected to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon.