Donna Adams, also known as Donna Benton, 37, formerly of Columbus, Indiana, was sentenced Thursday in Marshall Superior Court No. 1 to 25 years imprisonment for Child Molesting as a Level 1 felony. In open court, Adams admitted that in September, 2014, she performed a sexual act by placing her mouth on the vagina of a seven year old girl. The charging information states the act occurred at the Economy Inn in Plymouth.
Marshall County Prosecuting Attorney Nelson Chipman explained, “We were able to charge this offense at the highest level of felony because of the nature of the act that occurred, the age of the child was under 14 years, actually 7 years old, and the age of the defendant being over 21 years of age. Based on those factors the law allowed us to seek the highest range of punishment between 20 and 40 years imprisonment. The fact the woman was the mother of the victim was an aggravating circumstance we used to argue at sentencing for the maximum because, as you would expect, the defendant was in a position of trust over that child.”
A plea agreement had previously been submitted to Judge Robert O. Bowen that left the sentence to the discretion of the Judge, but with a maximum possibility of 30 years. In exchange the defendant admitted her guilt to the Level 1 felony.
The case began in July, 2015 when a detective from the Columbus, Indiana Police Department called Detective Leo Mangus of the Plymouth Police Department. The Columbus detective informed Mangus that he was working a child molest case in which the children of the suspect had reported inappropriate sexual contact by their mother. A subsequent interview of the mother, Donna Adams, yielded an admission of the allegations, and pinpointed at least one of the events took place at the Economy Inn in Plymouth. Detective Mangus was able to confirm that Adams had resided at the Economy Inn from September 6 to November 1, 2014.
Columbus PD sent their information to Mangus, and with the information he developed, a probable cause affidavit was drafted resulting in a warrant for the arrest of Donna Adams. Adams has been lodged in the Marshall County Jail since August 21, 2015.
Judge Bowen approved the previously submitted agreement reached between Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tami Napier and defense attorney Tom A. Black.
Deputy Prosecutor Lynn Berndt argued for the maximum under the terms of the agreement, while defense counsel Tom Black asked for the minimum under the law of 20 years. Based upon the arguments of counsel, the results of the Pre-Sentence Investigation and evidence submitted at the hearing, Judge Bowen sentenced Adams to 25 years imprisonment. No part of the sentence was suspended.
Adams was returned to the Marshall County Jail to await transport to the Indiana Department of Corrections. With good time credit for a Level 1 felony, Adams is expected to serve 18 ¾ years. It is unclear if the Columbus Police Department will seek additional charges.
