Walkerton Man Sentenced on Child Molesting Charge

Charles E. Barber
Charles E. Barber
A Walkerton man was sentenced in Marshall County Superior Court I after pleading guilty in a plea agreement with the state on a charge of Child Molesting as a Class B felony.

Charles Barber was sentenced to 15 years on the charge enhanced by an additional ten year imprisonment as an habitual offender. He will serve a total prison sentence of 25 years.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Barber had sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl that resulted in a pregnancy. In August 2012, a Department of Family and Children caseworker, along with a Marshall County Police Detective, spoke with the victim who presented a copy of a urine test showing that the victim was not pregnant. However it was learned that Barber had provided the urine sample and instructed the victim to supply an area hospital with a false age, false residence and false itinerary on how she arrived at the hospital. In October of 2012, the victim gave birth to a full term, stillborn baby. DNA confirmed that Barber was the father of the child. He was then charged.

Barber was registered as a sex offender after having been convicted of child molesting in St. Joseph County in 1993 and sexual battery in Tennessee in 2005.

Marshall County Deputy Prosecutor Nelson Chipman sought to designate Barber as an Habitual Offender due to his numerous prior felony convictions.