WBIW.com News - local

Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana

Bloomington Man Sentenced To 20 Years On Child Molesting, Stalking Charges

Last updated on Tuesday, September 26, 2017

(BLOOMINGTON) - A Bloomington man was sentenced to 20 in prison for child molestation and stalking.

According to court records, 35-year-old Noah James Gardner pleaded guilty to the crimes in a negotiated plea deal.

Two other charges of child molesting and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor were dismissed.

After serving his sentence Gardner will serve four years on supervised probation and must register as a sex offender.

Gardner was arrested after Bloomington Police found a girl locked in a small closet of his home in the 1000 block of South Madison Street.

The girl's sister and a friend told police the three had been drinking at Garden's home over the weekend. When they left the girl stayed behind. The girl's mother contacted police after she couldn't locate her 13-year-old daughter.

Armed with a search warrant officers found the girl in a closet. She told police she had got into the closet to hide from police and that Gardner had locked the outside of the closet preventing her from getting out.

In an interview at Susie's Place, a child advocacy center, the girl told officials she met Gardner on Facebook and had been in a relationship with him for five to six months.

Police say, Gardner admitted that he had sex with the girl three times - once in his home and two other times in a wooded area near the B-Line Trail.

Gardner was arrested and ordered to have contact with the girl. But the girl reported that Gardner began calling her about a month later and would give her rides to and from school and work> They also hung out during the summer months and would spend time at Gardner's apartment.

According to court documents, she was comfortable with the relationship until Gardner turned obsessive and violent so she ended the relationship. That is when Gardner began stalking the teen.

1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com

© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Click here to go back to previous page