HANCOCK COUNTY — A county man facing multiple felony charges — including two counts of rape — had his cash bond removed and a reduction made to his surety bond in Hancock County Circuit Court earlier this week.
The decision comes over the objections of the prosecutor’s office.
Christopher Lee Hargraves, 19, McCordsville, has been in the county jail for over eight months on the rape and related charges and was being held under an original $100,000 cash bond.
The cash bond, however, was removed by Judge Scott Sirk on Tuesday, Oct. 26, and a surety bond put in place in April was lowered from $250,000 to $100,000. It means Hargraves will now need to come up with $10,000 if he wants to get out of jail while his case goes through the court system.
Chief deputy prosecutor Aimee Herring said the prosecutor’s office is opposed to the reduction. During a bond reduction hearing, she asked the court to consider the high risk of flight and noted Hargraves left the county in October 2020 when he found out charges were pending against him. Hargraves was arrested and jailed in February.
Herring also told the court there is a risk to the victim’s safety and the safety of the community, factors that needed to be considered when determining whether the defendant’s motion was appropriate.
“The state believes that the original bond was appropriate,” Herring said.
Jeff McClarnon, Hargraves’ attorney, said his client wasn’t a flight risk back in October 2020 or when he was located four months later in Indianapolis.
“He never was a flight risk then and he isn’t one now,” McClarnon said. “He was about 100 yards outside of the county line and just didn’t turn himself in.”
The bond review hearing marked the third time McClarnon had asked the court for a reduction. He did so in April and again in September.
Hargraves was still listed as an inmate in the county jail on Friday afternoon, Oct 29. His trial is set for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 30 in Circuit Court.
