'Years of hell:' Neighbor sentenced to 7 years in prison for molestation dating to 1985

After arrest and plea agreement 40 years later and sentencing Friday, victim says: ‘All the years of hell I feel like have been released.’

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NEIGHBOR SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS IN PRISON FOR MOLESTATION DATING TO 1985

A 62-year-old Lafayette man, arrested in March and charged with child molestation dating nearly four decades ago, was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison.

Scott Wheeler, who worked at Purdue’s Hall of Music Productions at the time of his arrest, was sentenced in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 after a plea agreement from September that dropped all but one of four felony charges – three for child molesting and another for vicarious sexual gratification – filed against him.

Scott Wheeler (Photo via Tippecanoe County Jail)

According to a probable cause affidavit unsealed with the charges in March, investigators say Wheeler admitted to molesting an 11-year-old boy, who was a neighbor, several times between the spring and fall of 1985.

Wheeler was 21 at the time.

“I hope this will encourage others that have been harmed to come forward,” the victim, now 52 and living outside Indiana, said Friday after the sentencing. “I am very thankful for Tippecanoe prosecutor and (Lafayette Police Department) for all their hard work. … I’m just glad he can’t do it again for at least the length of his sentence. All the years of hell I feel like have been released.”