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Last updated on Wednesday, October 19, 2016
(BROWN CO.) - A Greenwood man was arrested after he allegedly molested an 8-year-old girl at Brown County State Park in September 2015.
The girl, her father and her mother identified 68-year-old William C. Zimmerman in statements given to the Greenwood Police Department.
Zimmerman was arrested and charged with sexual conduct with a child under the age of 14, a Level 1 felony.
He was booked into the Brown County Jail at 8 a.m. October 14 and was released on bond that evening. Online court records show he paid $3,000 of his $20,000 surety bond.
The investigation began after the girl's sister told an aunt about the incident. The aunt then told the girl's mother, who contacted police.
According to a probable-cause affidavit, the girl told police she woke up around midnight in Zimmerman's camper and that is when he molested her. She told police she knew it was him because - "I smell his stench and saw his hat that he always wears."
Zimmerman told the girl's father that she had slept in the camper because she wanted to.
After Zimmerman went to bed, the girl ran out of the camper to a tent where her aunt, uncle and sister were sleeping. She did not tell them what had happened because she was scared they would not believe her.
The girl's aunt told police, that the girl woke her up that night and asked to be taken to the bathroom. The aunt recalled that it seemed odd, as Zimmerman's camper, where the girl had been sleeping, had a bathroom.
When the aunt asked why the girl didn't use the camper's bathroom, she replied, "I'm afraid to go in the camper," the aunt told police. The girl also asked to go home during the camping trip, something she had never done before, according to the family.
The girl also described another incident at Zimmerman's Greenwood home, as well as times leading up to the first alleged incident when Zimmerman had shown increased interest in the girl.
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