Saturday, June 2, 2007
www.care2.com/news/member/961361306/381507
Sex offender charged in Cambridge City teen's murder
PALLADIUM-ITEM
CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind. A registered sex offender out on bail from a child molestation case is being held in the Wayne County Jail tonight in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old girl in Cambridge City, authorities said.
Leonard Wesley Dickey, 47, of 207 E. Church St., Cambridge City, was arrested by Indiana State Police when he crashed his car in Connersville after a pursuit.
Dickey is in the Wayne County Jail charged with felony murder.
The victim, Tarra Pickett, 16, of Cambridge City, was found in a wooded area owned by the town near Walnut and South Fourth streets around 10 p.m. Monday. She was a sophomore at Lincoln High School.
State Police identified Dickey as the suspect in the homicide late this afternoon after remaining mum on the crime throughout the day.
According to the Indiana Sheriffs Association Sex Offender Registry, Dickey was convicted of rape in 1982 in Fayette County and was sentenced 40 years in prison. The state Department of Corrections Web site indicates Dickey was released in October 2005.
Dickey was free on bond after Wayne County sheriffs deputies arrested him Jan. 17 and charged him with three counts of child molestation, one count a Class A felony and two counts Class C felonies.
He also was charged with being a repeat sex offender.
At his inititial hearing in Wayne Superior Court I, bond was set at $50,000 and Dickey made bail through a bail bondsman. He hired his own attorney, Shane Edington of Cambridge City. Dickey was ordered to have no contact with the victim as a condition of his bail.
Edington filed a motion to continue the case March 29, which was granted April 23. A jury trial was set for July 17.
State Police referred all questions involving the case to Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Shipman, who has refused comment throughout the day.
www.care2.com/news/member/961361306/381507
Sex offender charged in Cambridge City teen's murder
PALLADIUM-ITEM
CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind. A registered sex offender out on bail from a child molestation case is being held in the Wayne County Jail tonight in connection with the murder of a 16-year-old girl in Cambridge City, authorities said.
Leonard Wesley Dickey, 47, of 207 E. Church St., Cambridge City, was arrested by Indiana State Police when he crashed his car in Connersville after a pursuit.
Dickey is in the Wayne County Jail charged with felony murder.
The victim, Tarra Pickett, 16, of Cambridge City, was found in a wooded area owned by the town near Walnut and South Fourth streets around 10 p.m. Monday. She was a sophomore at Lincoln High School.
State Police identified Dickey as the suspect in the homicide late this afternoon after remaining mum on the crime throughout the day.
According to the Indiana Sheriffs Association Sex Offender Registry, Dickey was convicted of rape in 1982 in Fayette County and was sentenced 40 years in prison. The state Department of Corrections Web site indicates Dickey was released in October 2005.
Dickey was free on bond after Wayne County sheriffs deputies arrested him Jan. 17 and charged him with three counts of child molestation, one count a Class A felony and two counts Class C felonies.
He also was charged with being a repeat sex offender.
At his inititial hearing in Wayne Superior Court I, bond was set at $50,000 and Dickey made bail through a bail bondsman. He hired his own attorney, Shane Edington of Cambridge City. Dickey was ordered to have no contact with the victim as a condition of his bail.
Edington filed a motion to continue the case March 29, which was granted April 23. A jury trial was set for July 17.
State Police referred all questions involving the case to Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Shipman, who has refused comment throughout the day.
