Cloverdale woman charged in child seduction case appears in court

Mandy Evans

A former Cloverdale Schools employee, charged in a child seduction case involving three teenage male victims, made her initial appearance in court Wednesday afternoon.

Mandy Lou Evans, 46, Cloverdale, appeared before Putnam Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges, who entered not-guilty pleas on her behalf.

Evans, who is being represented by attorney Benjamin D. Waite of Cloverdale, has been charged with three Level 5 felony counts of child seduction as a child care worker, as well as three Level 6 felony counts of dissemination of matter harmful to minors. Level 5 counts are punishable by 1-6 years in prison, while Level 6 felonies are punishable by one year in jail.

Being held under $20,000 bond at the Putnam County Jail, Evans will be allowed to post 10 percent bond, Bridges announced. Cash bond was entered in the Clerk’s Office Thursday morning.

Judge Bridges has put no-contact orders in effect for Evans concerning the two 17-year-old and one 16-year-old victims who knew Evans from her employment at Cloverdale High School. In April, the Cloverdale School Board accepted Evans’ resignation as home-to-school adviser.

The allegations spring from an Indiana State Police investigation that began last March, after information was received from the Department of Child Services about allegations of child seduction and dissemination of explicit material from an employee of Cloverdale Schools.

It is alleged that via social media, Evans distributed explicit sexual photos and suggestive communications with the minors, encouraging them to visit her apartment for sexual contact.

The probable cause affidavit indicates Evans told one of the alleged victims she supervised during in-school suspension that “he was handsome, sexy and that if she was younger, she would be forced to flirt with him.”

Evans later reportedly asked one victim to delete the photos she had sent because “she feared she would lose her job,” court documents state.

Det. Ryan Winters conducted the State Police investigation, culminating in the charges filed Dec. 19.

A pretrial conference in the case was set for March 13 at 9 a.m.