A 40-year-old Anderson man will spend the next decade in the Indiana Department of Correction after a Madison County jury convicted him of molesting a child during a sleepover at his home. Nathaniel Lange was sentenced on October 5 following a three-day trial that concluded with a guilty verdict on August 28, stemming from an incident reported nearly two years earlier.
According to Fox 59, the case traces back to November 3, 2024, when Madison County dispatch received a report about a child being molested in the 400 block of Golf Club Road in Anderson. Police began investigating Lange that same day, and he was ultimately convicted of child molesting, a Level 4 felony. The investigation was led by Officer Jason Girt of the Edgewood Police Department, according to the Madison County Prosecutor's Office.
What Happened During the Sleepover
Per the police report cited by Fox 59, a juvenile female reported that Lange touched her inappropriately during the sleepover. A 7-year-old girl told investigators that bad things happened that night and said she overheard Lange touching another child in her private parts. An 8-year-old girl separately provided an account that, per court documents, appeared to match the younger girl's version of events. The station's report also notes that the girl who disclosed the abuse appeared hesitant to speak before describing what Lange reportedly did.
Lange's girlfriend told investigators she had observed him playing and wrestling with a female child on the floor earlier in the evening but said she did not see anything inappropriate occur before telling the girls to go to bed. She later woke up to find Lange and the juveniles still together, according to the same account. Lange claimed he had been planning to order pizza for the girls, and separately said he went to the basement to sleep once the children went to bed. He told investigators he was aware of the allegations against him but denied inappropriately touching any of the children.
Inside the Courtroom
The trial unfolded in Madison County Circuit Court 1 before Judge Angela Warner Sims, with Deputy Prosecutors Dan Kopp and Jon Jones presenting the state's case, according to the Madison County Prosecutor's Office. Immediately after the jury returned its guilty verdict, Sims remanded Lange to the Madison County Jail, where he remained in custody for roughly five weeks until his October 5 sentencing hearing.
Kopp leads the sex crimes division within the prosecutor's office's Special Victims Unit, a unit established in October 2021 specifically to handle domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse cases. Under Indiana Code § 35-50-2-5.5, as explained by WomensLaw.org, a Level 4 felony carries a sentencing range of two to 12 years with an advisory term of six years, meaning Lange's 10-year sentence lands near the top of what state guidelines allow. Under Indiana Code § 35-42-4-3(b), as detailed by Justia Law, child molesting qualifies as a Level 4 felony when an adult fondles or touches a child under 14 with intent to arouse or satisfy sexual desires, a standard that does not require intercourse or penetration.
A Pattern of Harsh Sentences in Madison County
A Pattern of Harsh Sentences in Madison County Lange's case is not an isolated one in the same courtroom. Earlier in August 2026, Madison County Circuit Court 1 sentenced 29-year-old Sean Wheatley to 16 years — eight executed in prison followed by eight years of probation — after a jury convicted him on two Level 4 felony child molesting counts, according to the Madison County Prosecutor’s Office. Taken together, the two cases reflect how the Special Victims Unit has pursued aggressive prosecutions of child sexual abuse cases throughout 2026.
Once Lange completes his prison term, Indiana Code § 11-8-8 requires him to register with local law enforcement as a sex offender, a mandate that includes periodic address verification with local sheriffs. Separately, under House Bill 1004, enacted in 2019, Indiana has no statute of limitations for filing child molestation charges as long as the victim reports before turning 31, according to Keffer Hirschauer LLP, a change that removed the state's previous five-year reporting limit.
Lange's sentencing adds to a string of major child sex crime cases out of Anderson this year, including a 50-year sentence and a separate 44-year sentence tied to hundreds of abuse images found on a local man's devices. As Woof Boom News reported, local coverage of Lange's trial and sentencing was originally broken by The Herald Bulletin, which tracked the case from the August trial through this month's sentencing.
