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Attorney: Molesting Suspect Doesn't Have STD

Last updated on Saturday, June 9, 2012

(MUNCIE) - An attorney for an Ohio man who Indiana prosecutors said infected a 6-month-old girl with venereal disease said test results show he doesn’t have the sexually transmitted illness.

Bryan Michael Strickler's trial on child molesting and attempted child molesting charges had been scheduled to begin Monday, but The Star Press of Muncie reported that a judge rescheduled it for Oct. 15 after prosecutors said they need more time to consult medical experts.

Prosecutors said Strickler might still carry the virus.

Prosecutors claim that Strickler helped his former girlfriend molest a friend's daughter last fall.

Strickler and Ashley Lynn Stapert, 21, were both being held Friday in Delaware County Jail.

Stapert's trial on child molesting charges is set for July 9.

The public defender's office didn't answer a call seeking comment.

Police said Stapert told them that both she and Strickler assaulted the infant, who was taken to Riley Hospital for Children for treatment of genital warts.

The child's mother told police that Stapert and Strickler were homeless and that she let them stay with her at an apartment on the east side of Muncie from September to November 2011. Police first began investigating the case on Nov. 9.

The child's mother told RTV6 that she and Stapert had been best friends since the eighth grade and that she trusted her enough to watch her child while she went to work, but never imagined her child would come to harm.

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