Greencastle man faces 2-8 years for failing to register as sex offender

Thursday, April 9, 2015

A Greencastle man who has failed to register as a sex offender numerous times over the past 20 years is facing 2-8 years in prison after his latest disregard for the law.

John W. McCarty Sr., 56, who resides on Avenue E in Greencastle, has been living at an unregistered city address since April 2013, court records indicate.

He made an initial appearance in Putnam Superior Court Wednesday afternoon on a Class C felony count of failure to register as a sex or violent offender with a prior conviction (April 2007). If convicted, McCarty could also face a fine of up to $10,000.

McCarty, who over the past two years essentially moved two blocks from a previous Avenue C address, nonetheless failed to notify authorities of that change of address --- just as he has at least three other times since his original arrest and conviction for child molesting in Hendricks County in March 1995.

Thus if McCarty had complied with the original requirement to register and update information annually, his 10-year stint on the registry would have been long over, it was noted in court.

"You know when you change your address, you're supposed to inform the sheriff," Deputy Prosecutor James Hanner said matter of factly to McCarty, knowing full well the suspect knew that already.

In fact, McCarty has been caught up so long in the failure-to-register cycle that he was once represent by then-public defender Denny Bridges in a 2007 case in front of Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley. When McCarty appeared before Bridges Wednesday, this time the latter's role was as Superior Court judge.

The judge entered a preliminary not-guilty plea for McCarty, appointing Jeff Boggess as his public defender and setting a pretrial conference date of May 27.

Bond was set at $10,000 (with 10 percent allowable) or $7,500 surety bond.

Court records show McCarty was arrested for failure to register in 2006, again in 2007 and 2009.

In front of Judge Headley in January 2006 in a criminal confinement case, McCarty was sentenced to three years in prison for failure to register as a sex offender, with all but 207 days of time served suspended. He was again ordered to register as a sex offender.

When he failure to comply with that order, he was charged with a petition to revoke probation with Judge Headley ultimately reinstating McCarty's back-up time of 681 days in jail in November 2009.

After a 2013 occurrence, former Putnam County Sheriff's Department Sex and Violent Offender Registry Director Jeremiah Jackson expressed his frustration with McCarty's repeated flaunting of the registration requirement. The defendant had originally registered Aug. 18, 2011 but did not comply with annual updating of that registration nor did he provide his change of address.

"It has become clear to me," Lt. Jackson said in a written request for a warrant for the suspect's arrest dated May 29, 2013, "that John W. McCarty Sr. has not given any indication that he is coming in to register and update his information, and thus has no concern for abiding by the laws and regulations he was to be upheld to."

McCarty was remanded to the custody of the Putnam County Jail after the hearing.

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