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Last updated on Tuesday, July 2, 2013
(UNDATED) - Andrew Easterday, a man whom police said claimed to be a pedophile and admitted he molested a 5-year-old boy, was arrested Friday on a warrant for child molesting.
Easterday, 27, whose address was listed on jail documents as Martinsville, was booked into the Lawrence County Security Center at 8:28 p.m.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lawrence Superior Court II, early April 17, Easterday's mother took him to Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital emergency room, where he was acting strangely. The hospital staff called the Lawrence County Police Department because, when Easterday was asked about why he was at the emergency room, Easterday said he was a pedophile and had molested a 5-year-old family member in Springville.
A police officer went to the victim's mother's home. The mother said she and the child's father are separated, and at the time, the father was living with Easterday in Springville, according to police.
On April 16th the child's maternal grandmother overheard the child talking about the molestation incident. When the child's mother asked him about it, the victim told his mother he played Simon Says with Easterday, and Easterday told him to take his pants off and he did, according to the affidavit. He said the molestation happened more than once.
The mother contacted the boy's father, the probable cause states. The father then talked to Easterday. Other family members also confronted Easterday about the incident, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The affidavit reads, "Andrew admitted (to his mother) that he is a pedophile and that 'with (the victim), it did happen' and that '(the victim) was telling the truth.' ... Easterday went on to admit that there were seven different incidents, starting when (the victim) was 3 years old through sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2012." Easterday's mother then took him to the hospital.
The detective who talked with Easterday, according to the court paperwork, said Easterday admitted to molesting the victim seven times, with the first being when the victim was 3 years old.
Easterday told the detective he would touch the victim while playing Simon Says. "When asked why 'Simon Says,' Andrew stated, 'I can get him to do what I want, I guess,'" the affidavit reads.
The child was then interviewed by a forensic interviewer, according to the court document. The victim again said he played Simon Says with Easterday in Easterday's room.
If found guilty, Easterday could spend 20-50 years in prison for child molesting, a Class A felony, and could face fines of up to $10,000.
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