Jason S. Tribbie, 38 of Lamar, was sentenced on Friday, November 3 in the Spencer Circuit Court for one count of Aiding, Inducing or Causing Child Molesting as a Class C felony, one count of Aiding, Inducing, or Causing Sexual Misconduct with a Minor as a Level 4 felony, and one count of Maintaining a Common Nuisance as a Level 6 felony. Spencer Circuit Court Judge Jon Dartt handed down the sentence after accepting the terms of a plea agreement entered into by Tribbie with the Spencer County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Indiana State Police and Spencer County Department of Child Services began an investigation in October 2016 after Tribbie contacted the Indiana State Police seeking to provide information that his girlfriend had engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with a minor. During the course of the investigation, law enforcement discovered that Tribbie had been involved in arranging and encouraging inappropriate sexual contact with two young males while they were under the age of 16. As part of the investigation, a search warrant was executed at Tribbie’s home where evidence of possession and use of methamphetamine was also discovered leading to drug related charges, including Maintaining a Common Nuisance. Indiana State Police Detective Jason Dunsworth conducted the investigation with the assistance of Spencer County Sheriff’s Deputy Kelli Reinke. Tribbie was arrested on October 5, 2016 on the drug related charges and later charged on January 23, 2017 with the sex crime offenses. Tribbie had remained incarcerated at the Spencer County Law Enforcement Center since October 5, 2016 on a bond of $300,000 surety/$30,000 cash.
Tribbie entered into a plea agreement regarding the charges on October 6, 2017 and entered guilty pleas to Aiding, Inducing or Causing Child Molesting, a Class C felony, Aiding, Inducing or Causing Sexual Misconduct with a Minor, a Level 4 felony, and Maintaining a Common Nuisance, a Level 6 felony. Pursuant to the agreement accepted by the Court, Tribbie was sentenced to 17 years to the Indiana Department of Correction with 11 years of the sentence to be executed and 6 years to be suspended. Upon release from the Department of Correction, Tribbie is subject to GPS monitoring, is required to register as a sex offender, and will be subject to very strict special probation conditions for adult sex offenders.
Following the sentencing on November 3, Spencer County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Wilkinson said, “I commend Detective Jason Dunsworth for his extensive and thorough investigation in this case. It is because of those efforts that we were able to achieve a substantial sentence in this case by agreement without subjecting the victims to the ordeal of testifying at depositions and trials. Our local protocol and multi-disciplinary team for child abuse investigations worked well in this case and allowed us to develop the evidence needed to bring a successful prosecution.”
The public is encouraged to report suspected child abuse or neglect by calling the Indiana Department of Child Services at (800) 800-5556 or local law enforcement. Anyone with information regarding criminal activity of any kind may leave a tip anonymously through the Spencer County Crime Tip Line at (800) 615-6088 or online at http://spencoprosecutor.org/crime-tip-line/.