A 22-year-old Greenwood man is facing a felony sexual battery charge after a woman told police he handcuffed her, bit her more than a dozen times, and pointed a handgun at her head while threatening to rape and kill her inside his home on Hall Court. Sean Slayton was arrested following the encounter, which the woman says lasted at least a couple of hours before she managed to escape by promising him she would come back.
According to court documents cited by Fox 59, a Greenwood police officer responded to the 100 block of Hall Court after the woman reported the assault. She told investigators Slayton restrained her hands behind her back with handcuffs, prevented her from leaving, and forced her to perform a sex act on him. She said he pointed a handgun at her head and at her private parts, and that the firearm was later found on a nightstand next to the bed.
The woman reported bite marks scattered across her body — including her breasts, upper left arm, upper right arm, right elbow, left hip, right cheek, and the left side of her throat, per the same court records. She told police Slayton continued biting her even after she refused to have sex with him, and that he became angry when she would not perform sexual acts, a detail the court documents attribute directly to her account.
Threats Escalated Through the Night, Woman Says
The woman told investigators Slayton threatened to use a blade to remove her birth control from her arm and said he wanted to get her pregnant. She also reported that he threatened to make her leave his residence crawling, and that at one point he threatened to rape her friend while holding her at gunpoint. When she tried to leave the bed, she said, he grabbed her and threw her back onto it.
Slayton agreed to be interviewed by detectives on September 1, according to the court filing. He told police he and the woman arrived at his residence around midnight and that the two watched television together before an argument broke out as she was leaving, which he attributed to him playing around. He said the pair argued before she left.
During that interview, Slayton initially denied putting handcuffs on the woman before later admitting he did so a few minutes into the encounter, claiming he used only one handcuff and did not apply it forcefully. He denied using any firearm during the incident and denied forcing the woman to commit sexual acts, insisting she consented to everything that happened. Asked about the bite marks, Slayton reportedly told detectives, “It is just something that I do. I didn't hurt her; that's just what I do.”
Text Messages and License Plate Cameras Contradicted His Account
Slayton told police he never left his residence after the woman left that night, but investigators say Greenwood's network of Flock Safety license plate reader cameras showed otherwise, revealing that he had in fact left home. The city's police department operates 22 active Flock cameras as part of a larger 53-camera network, and it launched a public transparency portal in September showing domestic assault and battery among the top search categories run through the system, according to WTHR.
After the encounter, the woman said she began receiving messages from an unknown number that she believed were from Slayton, including an apology for biting her and a promise not to bite her again. He also asked her to let him know when she made it home safely. She blocked his phone number, but he later admitted to using a TextNow app number to repeatedly contact her from a different account. Investigators can typically trace such virtual numbers back to a user through account metadata and IP records obtained via subpoena, since VoIP apps route messages through web data rather than a traditional cellular SIM, per Rexxfield. Detectives executed a search warrant at Slayton's residence on September 1.
Level 4 Felony Carries Up to 12 Years
Slayton faces a preliminary charge of sexual battery, which under Indiana law is ordinarily a Level 6 felony but escalates to a Level 4 felony when committed while armed with a deadly weapon or through the use or threat of deadly force, according to WomensLaw.org. A Level 4 felony conviction in Indiana carries a prison sentence range of 2 to 12 years, with an advisory sentence of 6 years and fines that can reach $10,000, per Justia Law. State law also bars courts and jails from releasing someone arrested on sexual battery or domestic violence allegations on bail for at least 24 hours after arrest, giving authorities time to complete a risk assessment.
A conviction involving force or the threat of force would also require Slayton to register on Indiana's Sex and Violent Offender Registry, a mandate that can extend to a lifetime requirement depending on a judge's determination. Online court records had not yet reflected when Slayton is scheduled to appear for his initial hearing in Johnson Superior Court 3, which is presided over by Judge Douglas B. Cummins, appointed to the bench by Governor Eric Holcomb in 2022 after seven years as a county magistrate, according to The Indiana Lawyer.
Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner has taken a publicly aggressive posture toward violent crime, previously noting that more than 40 percent of inmates booked into the Johnson County Jail actually reside in neighboring Marion County and stating that his office pursues maximum penalties in violent cases. It remains an open question whether prosecutors will file additional charges beyond sexual battery, such as criminal confinement, pointing a firearm, or intimidation, ahead of Slayton's initial hearing.
Victims of domestic and sexual violence in Johnson County can reach Turning Point Domestic Violence Services through its 24-hour crisis hotline at 1-800-221-6311. The Franklin, Indiana-based organization offers free emergency shelter, crisis intervention, and help obtaining protective orders.
