A Crothersville man is free on a $45,000 bond after Scott County authorities charged him with five misdemeanor counts of making an unlawful proposition.
Carl A. Wagner, 58, of the 400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, was booked into Scott County Jail just after 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30; he was released after posting bond around 2 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 7.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Wagner would be contacted by female inmates at Scott County Jail who couldn’t post bond for their release. The inmates would agree to have sex with him if he would post their bond. Four women who Wagner bonded out of jail were charged with prostitution.
They include:
•Robin L. English, 23, of Hope
•Brittany D. Hormann, 35, of Lexington
•Kayla R. Marling, 30, of Scottsburg
•Christy A. Kamman, 43, of Scottsburg who was also charged with trafficking with an inmate, and possession of marijuana.
All were arrested and booked into the Scott County Jail.
The inmates were using jail provided devices called ‘CHIRPS’ which are cellphone style texting devices that inmates within the Scott County Jail can use to communicate with friends and family in the community, according to Sheriff’s Detective Donovan McCutcheon. He explained that this service is provided by ‘Combined Network Communication’ and is monitored through their system which is available to jail staff, administrators and investigators of the sheriff’s office.
“The CHIRP costs the inmate every time that they send or receive an outside text message,” said McCutcheon.
According to the charging document, a female inmate at the time first made contact with Wagner Oct. 26, 2022. His cell phone number was shared with other female inmates who could not raise the money necessary to post bond and be released from jail.
“Prostitution, or ‘the intent’ to commit a sexual act for money, property, or tangible items, is illegal. In this instance, female inmates who had no financial means to pay a bond, were being exploited for alleged sexual favors in return for getting bonded out of jail,” said Scott County Sheriff Jerry Goodin. “Unfortunately, this is a nationwide problem and a difficult case to make.