BOONE COUNTY, Ind. — A Crawfordsville man was sentenced Monday after being convicted of three counts of child molestation.
A judge sentenced Kenneth A. Arnold to 40 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, followed by 10 years of supervised probation. Arnold was convicted in September after being accused of molesting a child at an athletic center in Zionsville between January 2014 and December 2016. The allegations came out in the fall of 2020 after the victim shared the information during counseling.
The victim was under the age of 14 when the alleged assault happened.
"The Defendant has finally been held accountable for the heinous acts he committed," said Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood in a news release. "We are grateful for the courage demonstrated by the young victim in this difficult case."
Arnold had previously been under investigation for two sex crime-related incidents in 2016. Those were were also alleged to have happened between January 2014 and December 2016. Arnold was accused of assaulting three girls, ages 10-12, as they trained at Zionsville's InterActive Academy.
One of the cases went to trial, and the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
In the second case, Arnold reached a plea agreement after consulting with the parents. As part of that agreement, Arnold was given six and a half years probation after his 10-year prison sentence was suspended. Arnold was also considered a sexually violent predator and ordered to register as a sex offender.
InterActive Academy issued the following statement to families following the previous guilty verdict:
"InterActive Academy is aware of the trial result returned against a former employee who was terminated nearly 7 years ago, in 2016. Early that year, InterActive Academy communicated openly and directly with our gymnastics family and parents upon first learning of the troubling investigation which ultimately led to criminal charges against this individual. Throughout the years, we have fully cooperated with law enforcement and maintain the utmost respect for those involved in the judicial process. To that end, InterActive Academy cannot offer comment concerning any legal matters or court proceedings."