A 68-year-old Lafayette man is facing two felony child molesting charges after court documents say he admitted to investigators that he inappropriately touched a child he had been babysitting since 2022. Gregory Dykstal was arrested and booked into the Tippecanoe County Jail following an interview with police, according to court records filed Friday.
Dykstal was charged with one count of child molesting as a Level 1 felony and one count of child molesting as a Level 4 felony, according to court documents cited by Fox 59. The Lafayette Police Department opened an investigation in October after receiving a report that a child younger than six had been inappropriately touched by Dykstal, the outlet reported. The child later told law enforcement that Dykstal had molested her and touched her inappropriately, per the court documents described in the report.
What Dykstal Reportedly Told Investigators
According to the same court documents, Dykstal told police he had babysat the child multiple times between 2022 and 2026, including alone at his Lafayette home on Oct. 12. He reportedly admitted to touching the child inappropriately while he was alone with her that day. The station's report also states that Dykstal told investigators his “sexual thoughts had been building for several months.”
Following the interview, Dykstal was arrested and transported to the Tippecanoe County Jail, the outlet reported. No further details about a plea, hearing, or bond decision were included in the available reporting.
Other Lafayette-Area Babysitting Cases
In an earlier case, Gerald Thompson, then 48, was accused of molesting a child he babysat overnight multiple times during the summer of 2019 and in March 2020, according to The Purdue Exponent. Thompson was ultimately charged with five counts of child molestation along with child solicitation, dissemination of matter harmful to minors, marijuana possession, and resisting law enforcement, the paper reported.
In a separate case out of West Lafayette, David Alan Love, then 48, was charged with several sex crimes involving a 9-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl, The Purdue Exponent reported at the time. Love faced two Level 1 and two Level 4 child molesting counts, along with two Level 6 felony counts of performing sex in front of a minor, according to the paper's account of the charges. A separate Lafayette case covered by Based in Lafayette involved Scott Wheeler, 61, who was arrested and charged with three felony counts of child molesting and one count of vicarious sexual gratification tied to alleged encounters with an 11-year-old dating back to 1985.
