Wolfe
HANCOCK COUNTY — A Greenwood man who was in charge of working with minors in a New Palestine pizza shop has been charged with a felony count of sexual misconduct with a minor. The man is also facing other charges stemming from an incident in July 2022 where officials say he gave a minor alcohol and touched them inappropriately.
Charles B. Wolfe, 30, is facing a Level 5 felony count of sexual misconduct with a minor, a Class A Misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a Class B Misdemeanor count of furnishing alcohol to a minor.
The case against Wolfe was opened late last week in Hancock County Circuit Court where the court entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Wolfe. Judge Scott Sirk set a $5,000 cash bond or a $50,000 surety bond. The most serious charge against Wolfe carries up to six years in prison.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officials with the New Palestine Police Department were asked to investigate a possible sexual assault involving a juvenile that had occurred the night of July 13, 2022 or early in the morning of July 14, 2022. Officials were informed the forensic evidence was being collected and the juvenile was getting a sexual assault examination at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.
The juvenile told officials the person who assaulted them was Wolfe, a supervisor at Mama Nita’s Pizza Shop in New Palestine, the affidavit said. The juvenile told officials Wolfe encouraged them to consume alcohol while closing up the shop the night before driving them home.
The juvenile initially stated that they did not know there was alcohol in a drink Wolfe made, but they thought it tasted different. Wolfe pressured the juvenile to drink more until they became intoxicated, the affidavit said.
Wolfe was supposed to give the juvenile a ride home from work, and while in his vehicle, he touched them inappropriately and exposed himself, officials said in the report.
When the juvenile got home, they told their family what happened and they took the juvenile to the hospital, officials said in the report.
Wolfe told officials he had gotten a bottle of alcohol to drink while closing the pizza shop that night, but that the juvenile had gotten into it without his knowledge and became inebriated, but had left the pizza shop for a couple of hours, the affidavit said. Wolfe told officials he gave them water and chips to help them sober up and took them home after midnight.
Wolfe told officials he has never touched anyone at work in a sexual nature and suggested the juvenile made it up, the affidavit said.
A witness from the pizza shop told officials after delivering pizzas that night at 10 p.m. she noticed Wolfe seemed intoxicated, the affidavit said. The female witness noted Wolfe was “definitely drunk” and that she had not seen the juvenile drink alcohol and they did not appear drunk when she clocked out around 10:30 p.m.
Officials from the Department of Child Services also conducted an interview with Wolfe who police noted changed his story from what he told police earlier. In the second interview, Wolfe said the juvenile took the alcohol without his knowledge. He also told officials the juvenile had gotten off work around 8:30 p.m. that night and started drinking. He said they both had chicken wings before the juvenile started vomiting, and he then took them home.
Wolfe is no longer listed as an inmate in the county jail but is due back in court April 25 for a pretrial hearing.
This story is by Kristy Deer of the (Greenfield) Daily Reporter, a sister paper to the Daily Journal.
Non-emergency help dealing with sexual assault resources is available at Franklin-based ASSIST Indiana at 317-739-4456. For a complete list of resources from the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking, visit icesaht.org/get-help/. For emergency help dealing with sexual assault call or text 911 to report the crime.
