RICHMOND, IN — A Richmond man was charged with sexually assaulting a juvenile after DNA testing reportedly revealed he had impregnated her when she was 12.
Chris Lamar Moore, 38, is charged in Wayne Circuit Court with child molesting, a Level 1 felony carrying up to 40 years in prison.
The Richmond man is also charged with sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 4 felony with a maximum 12-year sentence, and child seduction, a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison.
According to an affidavit, a Richmond police detective began an investigation in January after being told Moore repeatedly had sex with a juvenile over a period of more than four years beginning when she was a pre-teen in 2021. The girl also said that Moore — who had been involved with the juvenile’s mother — was the father of a child she gave birth to at age 13.
However, during an interview conducted in early February, the girl recanted those allegations and said she had been impregnated by a fellow middle-school student. She said she had made the allegations against Moore because he had threatened to take her cell phone.
Richmond police learned the state Department of Child Services in 2024 had investigated allegations Moore had sexually abused the juvenile.
Also interviewed in February, Moore told Richmond police he needed to consult with an attorney before responding to the allegations against him.
The police detective investigated the girl’s claims she had been impregnated by a classmate and found no evidence the boy she had described existed.
In March, the detective received a search warrant to obtain DNA samples from the girl, her child and Moore.
On June 29, she received the test results from an Indiana State Police laboratory that reflected Moore was the child’s father.
On July 7, the teenager and her mother were again interviewed, and the juvenile again said she had been sexually assaulted by Moore repeatedly for years, and that he impregnated her.
According to the affidavit, she also said he had threatened to harm her or her family if she told anyone about his link to the pregnancy.
The teen’s mother maintained she would have reported the abuse had she been aware of it. She described Moore as having “the mind of a child and mental disabilities, but knows right from wrong.”
Moore was arrested in Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 16. He continued to be held in the Wayne County Jail on Monday, Aug. 24, under a $15,000 bond.
He was convicted of maintaining a common nuisance in Randolph Circuit Court in April.
That case originally saw Moore charged with rape after he was accused of transporting a woman from Dayton to a mobile home in Lynn, where she said he sexually assaulted her.
The rape charge was later dismissed. The Richmond man has since been accused of violating his probation in that case.
Moore is also set to stand trial Oct. 23 in Wayne Superior Court 3 on a driving-while-intoxicated charge filed in April.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Richmond man charged with molesting after DNA links him to birth
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Richmond Palladium-Item / Richmond Palladium-Item
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Douglas Walker, Richmond Palladium-Item | USA TODAY Network
