(LaPorte, IN) - - A 74-year-old LaPorte man linked to molesting children since the 1970s is locked up for the first time on his alleged predatory behavior.
Gerald Yaw is scheduled for an initial hearing Friday in LaPorte Circuit Court on two counts of child molesting.
According to court documents, his arrest Friday stems from a 12-year old girl reporting Yaw molested her for several years at his Farrand Ave. residence.
She also told authorities Yaw stopped his advances when she threatened to tell someone a few months prior to her 12th birthday.
During the several-month investigation, police said a woman in her 40’s reported being sexually assaulted by Yaw for several years as a child.
Her allegations were reflected in a police report from 1988 but the case was closed unless further evidence developed, according to court documents.
Another woman alleged her 23-year marriage to Yaw ended on claims by five children to being molested by him in the ’70s and ’80s, police said.
Yaw could face anywhere from 20 to 40-years and two to 12 years on each count.
He was being held Tuesday in the LaPorte County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
