Samuel L. Patterson
HANCOCK COUNTY — Some five years after officials say a 91-year-old county woman was raped at a senior living facility in McCordsville, the Indianapolis man accused of the act is in Hancock County to face the charges against him.
Samuel L. Patterson, 61, Miami Correctional Facility, is facing two Level 1 felony charges of rape and one Level 1 felony count of burglary stemming from an incident in June of 2018. Patterson was taken into custody at the Hancock County Jail on Friday after being transferred from a prison in northern Indiana.
Hancock County Prosecutor Brent Eaton said his office will proceed with this case as they would any other, but much of it depends on the victim’s status, which they are looking into.
“Like always, we will do our best to work with and for the victim,” Eaton said. “We will work hard to achieve a good result. Obviously this was a very disturbing PC (probable cause affidavit) to read.”
Patterson had his initial appearance in Hancock County Circuit Court at 1 p.m. Monday afternoon. Magistrate Cody Coombs set a $1 million cash bond, appointed a public defender and ordered Patterson to appear for a pretrial conference in late October.
Judge Scott Sirk approved the transport order of Patterson at the beginning of August. Patterson was transferred from the Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill late last week due to a local warrant. Patterson is already serving a 35-year term there after he was found guilty of raping a 77-year-old woman in Lawrence in September 2018. That term was handed down by Judge Lisa F. Borges in Marion County Superior Court in October of 2019.
That sentence is part of a plea deal in which Patterson received 16 years for a Level 3 felony charge of rape, 16 years for a Level 3 felony charge of burglary resulting in bodily injury, and three years for a Level 5 felony charge of kidnapping. The sentences will run one after the other. As part of the plea agreement, four felony counts and one misdemeanor against Patterson were dismissed.
Patterson has been identified as a sexually violent predator and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Patterson, who has an extensive criminal record, was already registered as a sexually violent predator in Marion County when the incidents against the county woman and the Lawrence woman occurred.
Coordinated efforts by officials from the McCordsville and Lawrence police departments helped lead to Patterson’s identification and arrest in February 2019.
Forensic evidence linked Patterson to an attack involving the 91-year-old victim in McCordsville, officials said in a probable cause affidavit. That rape occurred June 27, 2018. The Lawrence attack was Sept. 26, 2018. Patterson was officially charged April of 2019 in Hancock County for the McCordsville attack when a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Due to the Marion County crimes as well as COVID delays, Patterson’s local case had not had any movement locally since April of 2019 when a probable cause affidavit was filed along with official charges. Officials from the prosecutor’s office revisited the local case in late July of this year and requested the transport order on Patterson Aug. 1.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the incident in McCordsville happened shortly after midnight June 27, 2018 at a home in the Traditions at Brookside assisted living community. The campus is near Mt. Comfort Road and CR 900 North. The attack occurred in an independent residential home on the property, police said in a report.
The 91-year-old victim told police that she went to bed around midnight and woke up to a strange noise, according to the report. The next thing she knew, someone put a pillowcase over her head and asked repeatedly where her money was. The woman told police she tried to reach for her medical alert necklace during the attack, but the man stopped her and threatened to kill her. He then raped her, she told police.
