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Connor Hall

WARSAW — A Winona Lake man charged with sexual misconduct was sentenced Thursday, Oct. 31, in Kosciusko Superior Court I.

Connor Martan Hall, 20, 1219 Bibler Ave., Winona Lake, pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with a minor, a level 5 felony.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, a Warsaw Police officer responded to a domestic complaint at a residence and spoke with a woman who advised that a girl minor and the minor’s boyfriend, identified as Hall, were causing problems.

The officer spoke with the minor, who said she had been having intercourse and engaging in sexual conduct with Hall for approximately one and a half years. The girl said she was 14 years old when she began having intercourse with Hall.

Hall admitted to having sex with the minor sometime in September 2017 when she was 14 years of age. Police obtained a search warrant for Hall’s cell phone discovered a video of Hall and the girl having sex. Also on the phone were approximately 150 images of the girl involving nudity.

In court today, Hall’s attorney, Austin Rovenstine, told Judge David Cates that when Hall committed the offense, he was under a misconception about the Romeo & Juliet statute.

“He has undergone significant changes,” Rovenstine said. “He has successfully completed the MRT program.”

Cates sentenced Hall to the maximum time allowed per the plea agreement — three years. Hall was ordered to serve the three-year sentence at the Indiana Department of Corrections; however, Cates said he had no objection to Hall serving the executed portion of the sentence through Kosciusko Community Corrections, “so long as there is strict compliance to all of the rules.”

Cates ordered that Hall receive an assessment from the Bowen Center and complete any recommended follow-up; have no contact with the victim; register as a sex offender; pay a sex offender fee, and pay court costs.

Hall received 194 days of jail time credit.

“If there is any violation of these rules, you will immediately be transported to Indiana Department of Corrections for completion of your sentence,” Cates warned.