DECATUR – A Decatur man was being held in the Macon County Jail on Monday night, accused of beating a victim labeled as a “sexual predator.”
Police statements say the alleged assault happened Aug. 20, but police finally caught up with 19-year-old suspect Saturday morning. The statements described him as being a student at Lincoln College of Technology in Indianapolis, Ind.
Police accuse the man of setting upon the victim with two other teenage men as the victim walked along the 2000 block of East Pythian Avenue. The 53-year-old victim, who is a registered sex offender, told police he had seen the three men watching him as he walked along and, after crossing the street, he was initially attacked by two of them.
“He reported being kicked by one subject and knocked to the ground, at which time both subjects who had approached him began repeatedly punching and kicking him while on the ground,” say the statements, which indicate the third man then joined in the assault. The victim sustained a bleeding wound to his face as a result of the attack, police say.
“He reported he was told to leave the neighborhood, which he believed was due to his registered sex offender status,” police allege.
The police reports do not say at which point the 19-year-old suspect became involved in the alleged assault, but police claim he admitted to them in a phone interview that he had taken part.
“He acknowledged knowing that the (victim) was a sex offender, and that the three subjects involved had discussed battering him when they saw him walking down the street.”
A witness who told police he had seen the suspects running and the victim getting up off the ground, had followed one of the attackers as he drove away and confronted him about what had happened, “at which time he was told the battery had occurred because (the victim) is a 'sexual predator' and he had supposedly been seen peeking into windows in the neighborhood,” the sworn statements say.
The 19-year-old suspect was booked on preliminary charges of aggravated battery and mob action. He is due to be arraigned March 3. Bond was set at $10,000 with the condition he stay away from the victim. ..Source.. by TONY REID
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