CARMEL — A 47-year-old woman was arrested and charged for raping a nonverbal 16-year-old boy with autism while he was under her care in his Carmel home, according to police.
The teen's parents discovered the sexual assault via security footage before the babysitter confessed, according to court documents.
Detectives with the Carmel Police Department arrested Stephanie Bradshaw at her Carmel home on Monday. She is charged with rape, a level 3 felony, and two counts of sexual battery, a level 6 felony.
Bradshaw told detectives that she had watched the couple's son a total of 12 times over the last few months while they went to dinner, according to the probable cause report for her arrest. The couple told detectives they found Bradshaw on the Nextdoor app.
On Monday, the 16-year-old's parents returned home and watched the security footage recorded from several motion-sensor cameras set up in their home, including the teen's bedroom.
The parents discovered surveillance video showing the babysitter tucking the teen into bed and taking her pants off, the report said. She then appears to turn the camera over once realizing there is one in the room. The living room camera didn't show her reentering from the teen's bedroom until 30 minutes later.
After seeing the surveillance video, the parents called the police and the teen was taken to the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital for a sexual assault examination.
At that point, police asked the parents to review their surveillance footage from the previous times their son was under Bradshaw's care. While re-watching the video, the parents found footage that appeared to show Bradshaw, completely nude, atop of the 16-year-old, sexually assaulting him.
Bradshaw reportedly told detectives on the case that she did not have sexual feelings for the victim, but she wanted him to "experience a sexual encounter."
