Fingerprints Link Suspect to Sexually Graphic Notes Left on Cars

The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a Newburgh man who left sexually explicit messages on the vehicles of female students at the University of Southern Indiana.

On Tuesday, September 04, 2018 deputies assigned to the Sheriff’s Office USI Patrol Unit began an investigation after several female students contacted USI Public Safety to report obscene notes left on the windshield of their vehicles. The notes were sexually explicit in nature, proposed sexual activity in graphic detail and seemed to refer specifically to each female victim. The notes were written in a manner that suggested the offender had been watching each victim prior to leaving the note. The notes themselves were obviously written by the same person and were on the same type of paper. While only three notes were reported to our Office, it is possible that more were simply discarded and not reported.

Deputies took possession of the notes and submitted them into evidence for further investigation. Two certified crime scene technicians from our Office were able to use the laboratory facilities at the Sheriff’s Operations Center to forensically process the notes. Detectives were able to develop not only fingerprints but palm prints suitable for submission to the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). On September 18 our detectives were notified of an AFIS “hit” on the submitted fingerprints. The prints were matched to an Aaron Douglas Otto of Newburgh, Indiana.

Detectives consulted with the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office and obtained an arrest warrant today. Late this this afternoon Mr. Otto was stopped leaving his home in Newburgh and taken into custody. He was later booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail on $3000.00 bond.

Sheriff Dave Wedding stated, “We hope there are no other victims, but we realize that Mr. Otto’s activities may not have been confined to the campus. By publishing the details of his arrest, we hope that other victims might come forward with additional information.” Sheriff Wedding added, “I’d like to thank Dr. Ronald Rochon and his team at USI Public Safety for their assistance and continued support of our campus security partnership.”

ARRESTED:

Aaron Douglas Otto (pictured above), 31, of Newburgh. Intimidation as a Class A Misdemeanor (3 counts), Harassment as a Class B Misdemeanor (3 counts).

Presumption of Innocence Notice: The fact that a person has been arrested or charged with a crime is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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