Three men who were facing criminal charges in Johnson County have pled guilty and been sentenced on charges including battery and invasion of privacy.
The Daily Journal has previously reported about these cases and is sharing this update to give resolution to our earlier reporting on crime in the community.
Rape charge plead down
A Greenwood man will serve nearly four years on probation for domestic battery charges after being accused of rape.
David L. Kent, Jr., 28, pleaded guilty to domestic battery, a Level 5 felony, and strangulation, a Level 6 felony, before Johnson County Superior Court 3 Judge Douglas Cummins on Jan. 5. As part of a plea agreement, charges of rape as a Level 3 felony and sexual battery as a Level 5 felony were dismissed, according to online court records.
He was sentenced the same day to four years, almost all of which was suspended to probation. He also received a 77-day jail credit, court records say.
As a condition of his sentence, the first year of probation will be served on work release. He was ordered to have a mental health evaluation and to take domestic violence classes, records show.
Kent was charged last spring after a woman reported that he had forced her to have sex with him. He had asked the woman a few times if they could have sex, but she said no each time. She tried to move away from Kent but was unable to, and later yelled for someone to get a neighbor to help. She also fought him, the affidavit says.
She told police a few days later she had several injuries resulting from the incident, including a bite mark, the affidavit says.
Police spoke with Kent and said they had an argument that became physical. Kent told police the altercation ended when the witness came over. He could not tell police what the argument was about, but said he did not rape the victim, the affidavit says.
A few weeks later, Kent voluntarily gave police a letter that had more details about the incident because he believed there were “holes in his story.” He also told police he wanted to get help, according to the affidavit.
Stalking charge pled down
A Greenwood man accused of stalking a woman by placing a tracking device under a woman’s car will serve 178 days on probation.
William S. Rollins, 54, pleaded guilty to two counts of invasion of privacy, a Class A
misdemeanor, before Superior Court 3 judge Douglas Cummins on Jan. 12. As part of the plea agreement, a single charge of stalking as a Level 5 felony was dismissed, according to online court records.
He was sentenced the same day to 180 days, mostly to be served on probation. He will ultimately serve 178 days on probation as he received a one-day jail credit and two days of the sentence were to be served in jail, online court records say.
In August 2019, a woman told Greenwood police that she received several threatening text messages from Rollins, her ex, according to a probable cause affidavit. She also filed a protective order against Rollins.
The following December, she reported to police that she observed Rollins’ truck parked across the street from where she worked, court documents said. She then reported in January 2020 that Rollins had been sending her emails from a new email address, and she saw his car parked at Dunkin’ Donuts in Greenwood every morning when she drove by.
By February 2020, she reported to police she thought a GPS had been placed on her car because Rollins showed up everywhere she went. She took her car to a body shop where a black GPS was found underneath the back bumper, according to court documents.
Greenwood police met with Rollins, and he told the officer he sent the woman emails and text messages over the past several months. When asked about the GPS under her car, Rollins said it was not his initially, but police discovered he owned the same model of GPS that was found under the car, court documents said.
He later told police he had someone place the GPS under her car, and he had been tracking her on his phone for about two weeks, according to court documents.
Greenwood police tracked the billing information for the device back to Rollins, and found it had been activated from Feb. 8 to Feb. 22, 2020, when it was turned over to the police, court documents said.
Sexual battery pled down
A Greenwood man gets a 180-day sentence after pleading guilty to performing a sexual act on someone without their consent.
Beau Thomas, 33, pleaded guilty to battery, a lesser included misdemeanor before Johnson County Circuit Court Andrew Roesener on Jan. 19. As part of a plea agreement, the charge was lowered from sexual battery as a Level 6 felony, according to online court records.
He was sentenced the same day to 180 days, two days of which were ordered to be served in jail. The rest were suspended, and he received a one-day jail credit. He ultimately served one additional day in jail, online court records show.
Greenwood police responded to a report of sexual assault at an apartment on May 14. When police arrived, they spoke with a witness who said the incident had occurred the evening of May 13, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The witness told police that Thomas, his spouse and them were spending time together in the apartment and that they were drinking. Thomas had planned to stay the night, though his spouse had left. Overnight, the witness heard screaming and yelling between Thomas and the victim, the affidavit says.
The victim told police they had come home late and had fallen asleep in the living room when they were woken up by Thomas performing a sexual act on them. They did not give consent for Thomas to perform sexual acts, and once they realized this was happening, they began hitting Thomas, the affidavit says.
Eventually, Thomas fled the apartment without his clothes and belongings, and the victim called the police.
A short while later, an Indiana State Police trooper located Thomas near the intersection of Fairview Drive and Carney Drive. Thomas, who was only in his underwear, was running through several yards heading eastbound before he was stopped by police, according to the affidavit.
When officers spoke with Thomas, he said that he had blacked out from drinking too much and that the last thing he clearly remembered was sitting on the patio of the apartment drinking at around 1:30 a.m. He said he was then beaten up inside the living room of the apartment and that he was unable to identify the person who assaulted him, he told police.
