Ronnie G. Black appears in a mugshot. (Wayne County Sheriff's Department)
An Indiana man has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a cognitively impaired elementary school student – who happens to be his niece – while claiming that he's actually the victim.
Ronnie G. Black, 55, stands accused of two counts of child molesting and two counts of vicarious sexual gratification, according to Wayne County Sheriff's Department records reviewed by Law&Crime.
The defendant was arrested on Aug. 10 after he admittedly he sexually abused his niece – who is 9 years old – on multiple occasions but claimed he was repeatedly "forced" into doing so by her, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by Law&Crime.
Content warning: The details in this story are disturbing
On Aug. 8, the victim, who is in a special education class, complained that her genitals hurt, the affidavit says. Those concerns were relayed to a specialized teaching assistant – who accompanied the girl to the school nurse. The nurse determined the girl likely had a urinary tract infection and made plans to call the child's mother about the issue.
On the walk back to class, however, the teaching assistant asked the girl if anyone had ever touched her privates. The girl replied that Black, her uncle, "did so when he wiped her," according to the affidavit. The teaching assistant "felt this was strange because she felt [the girl] could clean her vagina herself," the court document says.
Asked what the defendant wiped her with, the girl allegedly replied he used his "bare hand," according to the probable cause affidavit. The teaching assistant told police she immediately shared this horrific revelation with the special education teacher and started walking with the victim to another school office. Then the girl said: "When he puts his privates in my privates, all I do is think about going home."
Hearing that, the teaching assistant began to cry, the affidavit says, and was comforted by the 9-year-old girl, who hugged her and said it was "okay." The teaching assistant then dropped the girl off with her teacher, took a break, and went to her car to sob again.
The school contacted Indiana Child Protective Services and the girl was taken to a specialized quasi-governmental center for a forensic interview with a CPS case agent, the affidavit explains. During the interview, the girl went on to detail a litany of sexual abuse allegedly committed by her uncle – in often graphic and shocking terms.
The interviewer noted the girl "kept moving back and forth, appearing to be uncomfortable" throughout the interview and, when asked why, said, "her privates hurt." When asked why she was hurting there, the girl said she had been in pain ever since her uncle had sex with her.
The court document continues on with extreme allegations of child sexual abuse and graphic language used by the victim to describe her own abuse that Law&Crime has decided not to print.
On Aug. 9, she was taken to the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital where a sexual assault examination was conducted. The next day, a nurse there said there were signs of trauma but could not give police "specific information" until the full report was complete.
The day after that, the Richmond Police Department interviewed Black, the affidavit says. He agreed to speak with law enforcement and allegedly signaled that "he thought he knew" what the investigation was about, an officer wrote.
During the interview, the defendant allegedly said he thought the allegations of abuse stemmed from an incident where he had to change the diaper of the girl's older brother, who is described as "a 13-year-old autistic, nonverbal child." During this incident, Black allegedly said, the girl would not leave the room while he was undressing her brother and he had to pick her up and remove her.
"Black stated that his sister is [the girl's] and [the boy's] mother," the affidavit reads. "Black stated that [the boy] lived with him due to his medical condition. He said that caring for the two kids at the same time was too much for his sister. [The girl] visited him most weekends on Friday and Saturday. [The girl's] mother would then pick her up on Sunday."
Asked if he ever touched his niece's genitals, the defendant allegedly admitted to doing so using a medical gloved hand in order to teach her how to wipe properly because "she was doing it improperly and was getting infections," the affidavit says. For a while, during the interview, Black "denied having an inappropriate relationship with his niece."
At one point during the interview, police say, Black's story shifted.
"Black said that [the girl] had undressed in front of him and climbed into bed with him," the affidavit reads. "Black said that she was naked while they were lying in bed together, and that [the girl] removed his shorts. Black stated that she climbed on top of him and [the girl] put his penis into her vagina. Black initially stated that he was asleep when this occurred, but eventually admitted that he was awake."
Near the end of the interview, the defendant allegedly supplied two exact dates for when he had sex with the girl, according to the affidavit. At other points in the interview, Black used various child-like euphemisms for male and female genitalia that aligned with the terms used by the victim. The defendant also allegedly told police his niece forced him to perform oral sex on her by hitting him in the back of the head after straddling him and demanding he do so.
Black was arrested after turning over his phone to law enforcement and consenting to provide a DNA sample.
The defendant is currently behind bars on $50,000 bond.
