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Last updated on Tuesday, September 23, 2014
(LINTON) - A Linton man accused of rape and child molestation in two counties was arrested.
54-year-old William T. LaBaume is facing charges in Sullivan and Greene counties.
Late Monday morning, the Greene County Prosecutor's Office filed criminal charges of two counts of rape and one count of rape with a deadly weapon against LaBaume.
The rapes happened on Feb 2, 2002, August 1, 2003 and Oct. 1 2013.
In Sullivan County, LaBaume is accused of child molesting and rape which occurred in 1997 when LaBaume was a resident of Sullivan.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Linton police began investigating a report of sexual assaults involving LaBaume in July of 2014.
LaBaume is accused of forcing the victim to have sexual intercourse with him numerous times. The alleged abuse dates back several years and has allegedly continued over a long period of time. During certain time periods, abusive incidents allegedly occurred multiple times a week.
LaBaume is accused of being physically abusive and of threatening to kill the victim or loved ones if his demands were not met or not kept a secret. The victim told the officer they feared retaliation.
The pattern of abuse including both sexual and physical abuse and intimidation allegedly started when the victim was a teen and continued into the victim's adult life.
In one attack that allegedly occurred in 2013, LaBaume is accused of saying he was going to kill the victim, who was fighting back, while he had a knife in his hand. In the course of the struggle, LaBaume was possibly kicked which caused him to cut himself in the groin area. The victim said he bled a lot and the carpet was cleaned in the effort to get the blood stains out. He reportedly traveled to the hospital in Sullivan for treatment.
Although the victim no longer lives at the place where the alleged attack took place, they described where the blood stains were located and police and Indiana State Police Crime Scene Investigators visited the location, rolled the carpet back and located stains in the carpet padding and on the wood subfloor. DNA evidence linked it to LaBaume.
LaBaume's ex-wife told police that in the late summer or fall of 2013, she saw Labaume with blood all over his hand and the front of his pants. She said he told her he had cut himself while working on his truck, and that he went to Sullivan County hospital to get stitched up.
The victim, now an adult woman, also told police that around October or November of 2013, LaBaume forcibly raped her by using a stun gun to force her to drive into the country where he made her have intercourse with him.
LaBaume is being held in the Sullivan County Jail on a $100,000 surety bond. No bond has been set in the Greene County, pending his return to the county for an initial hearing.
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