A 15-year-old accused of raping a 7-year-old in southern Indiana has been charged as an adult.
According to court documents, Landon Doty of North Vernon is accused of sexually assaulting and raping a nonverbal child with autism. The incident happened on a Jennings County school bus over several weeks. Doty was charged with:
- Two counts of rape
- Two counts of attempted rape
- Child molesting
- Attempted child molesting
- Two counts of sexual battery
- Two counts of attempted sexual battery
- Criminal confinement
- Public indecency
A school bus video reportedly captured several of the instances. Court documents state that on April 17, a school bus monitor witnessed Doty shoving the 7-year-old off his lap and advised administrators to study the video.
Documents show that the activity occurred repeatedly over a period of several weeks. A longtime court official is noted in the Probable Cause Affidavit, stating that Doty’s activities are so terrible that he is beyond rehabilitation under the juvenile justice system and describing him “as a predator” who understood what he was doing was illegal.
The 7-year-old’s relatives stated he sustained irreversible injuries. The family’s attorneys have filed a legal claim alleging that Jennings County School Corporation acted with gross negligence, violated the child’s civil rights, and inflicted irreversible harm, according to Fox59.
“This nightmare tragedy should never have happened. How could both the bus driver and the additional bus monitor aide not notice anything?” Wagner Rese attorney Laura Swafford in a statement to Fox59. “Like all parents in the community, the boy’s family believed the school would protect their young, vulnerable son.
“The family entrusted the school to protect their son by monitoring activity on the bus. The school system breached this trust and clearly failed in its responsibility.”
The school district issued this statement:
“We cannot go into any detail about this situation because we are cooperating with an active police investigation and additionally are involved in this litigation.”
Many parents in the district described it as a frightening situation.
“It is scary knowin’ that my kids are going to school here, and I don’t feel safe put them on the school bus,” Angel Elliott, who children attend the school, said.
Doty is being held in the Jennings County Jail under a $250,000 bond. He is set to return to court on August 21.
