Powers
A Franklin man was arrested Thursday after a teen reported he had molested them over the course of two years.
Tony E. Powers, 40, is charged with child molesting as a Level 4 felony.
The incidents relating to the charge occurred between August 2017 and June 2019 and were first reported to Franklin police by a guardian of the child in June 2021, according to court documents from Johnson County Circuit Court.
The child told Franklin police and Indiana Department of Child Services Powers’ behavior seemed normal to them at the time, but in the years since the incidents they have learned it was inappropriate, court documents say.
The child said Powers was “touchy” and said he would “move me around weirdly” and grab their waist while the child was in his lap. He would stop moving the child around in his lap when another person came into the room, court documents say.
On several occasions when the child was at his house for a sleepover, Powers came into the room and felt under the child’s shirt. At times, he also touched the child’s private parts over their pants, rubbed their back or tried to turn the child over to face him, court documents say.
The child told him they were uncomfortable with this or showed it by tensing up, but Powers would continue until he heard another adult moving around in the house, court documents say.
Franklin police tried numerous times to contact Powers but were unable to set up an interview, court documents say.
The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office filed the case Tuesday and a warrant was issued for Powers’ arrest the next day. He was booked into the Johnson County jail Thursday and was released on $1,200 bond.
