LAWRENCE, Ind. -- An Indianapolis woman accused of molesting a child she was babysitting turned herself in to the Marion County Sheriff's Department Thursday morning.
The arrest warrant for 47-year-old Marleeta Wilcox, filed in Marion County Criminal Court 5, shows she’s accused of molesting a 7-year-old girl. That girl and her sister then told their father.
RTV6 doesn’t identify victims of sex crimes and we are not disclosing where the alleged abuse took place to protect the victims.
Court documents reveal Wilcox was babysitting when she performed a sex act on the girl in the bathroom, her sister hearing her yelling for help.
Child advocacy groups say it’s unusual for kids to actually tell parents when something like this happens: Up to 70 percent of child sex abuse victims never disclose to anyone what happened.
“It's so easy for someone on the outside to think – No. 1 – ‘Oh, my child would of course tell me,’” Chaucie’s Place Executive Director Toby Stark said. “Or No. 2, ‘Why wouldn't they tell us about something like this where we could help?’ There's so many factors that go into a child not disclosing and probably the biggest factor is the feeling of blame and shame."
Wilcox faces felony charges including child molestation. Those charges were filed mid-July.
