Minor
A 56-year-old Brown County man was recently sentenced to serve more than 30 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of Level 1 felony child molesting late last year.
After around five hours of deliberation, a jury found James R. Minor II, of Gold Point Road, guilty of Level 1 felony child molesting, Level 4 felony child molesting and a Level 6 felony for dissemination of matters harmful to minors in December.
Minor faced up to 50 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. Last month he was sentenced to serve 25 years of a 35 year sentence in the DOC for the Level 1 felony. He received credit for 48 days actually served.
He was also sentenced to one and a half years in prison for the Level 6 felony. His sentence for the Level 4 felony child molesting charge was six years in prison.
The sentences for the Level 1 and 6 felonies will be served at the same time. Minor will serve the six year sentence on the Level 4 felony following the completion of the other two sentences.
He will be on probation for 10 years following his release from prison when he is 87 years old.
Minor was charged with the Level 6 felony for showing pornography to the victim.
The abuse of the victim reportedly occurred from November 2018 to June 2019, according to court documents.
Minor was formally charged in July 2019 with child molesting, Level 1 felony; two counts of child molesting, Level 4 felonies; and dissemination of matter harmful to minors, Level 6 felony.
A police investigation also began in July 2019 when Det. Brian Shrader with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department spoke with a man reporting that his child had been molested by Minor. The child had told him about the molestation that evening.
That victim’s family does not live in Brown County. The child said the molestation happened at Minor’s home on Gold Point Road.
She told police that Minor had touched her on more than one day. She also said Minor told her to keep the touching a secret, according to the affidavit.
The victim said she did not tell anyone at first because she was afraid she would get in trouble. She eventually told another relative and then her parents.
Six days after the investigation began in July 2019, Shrader visited Minor at his job in Edinburgh to serve a search warrant for his cellphone. He denied touching the victim and said that he would kill anyone that did, because the child “has his heart,” according to the affidavit.
He told Shrader there should be no pornographic material on his phone, but said that he had caught the child looking at inappropriate images on his phone before. Shrader later reported finding pornographic material on Minor’s cell phone, according to the probable cause affidavit filed.
During an interview with Shrader at the Brown County Law Enforcement Center, Minor continued to deny touching the child inappropriately.
Due to the pandemic, the trial was delayed and eventually began on Dec. 7 with a verdict being reached on Dec. 10.
The jury heard from the victim about how over the course of approximately six months Minor repeatedly molested her when she stayed at a relative’s house in Brown County. She was on the witness stand for hours. She testified about how Minor would sexually molest her and had touched her inappropriately more than 10 times.
The jury also heard from Shrader, the lead detective on the case and a trained forensic child interviewer who testified that she observed no coaching or alternative theories when the victim disclosed her story, nothing that her story remained consistent.
Prosecutor Ted Adams and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Rob Seet argued during the trial the victim testing positive for a sexually transmitted infection at 9 years old along with the testimony from the other alleged victim of Minor’s molestation corroborated the young girl’s claims.
They argued there was no motive for her to make up a false story about Minor.
Minor testified on his own behalf and denied the allegations against him.
Minor was defended by public defender Jacob Moore.
Minor was acquitted of a second Level 4 felony for child molesting involving another child related to the victim. That child also disclosed to police in 2019 that he had been inappropriately touched by Minor, but in his testimony used at the trial two years later he stated that Minor had not touched him inappropriately.
As of last week, Minor was still in the Brown County jail awaiting transfer to the DOC, according to jail staff.
