On Wednesday, a collaborative effort between Indiana State Police Bremen Post troopers, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office and the South Bend Police Department Strategic Focus Unit resulted in the arrest of a former Winona Lake man wanted on a Level 1 felony child molestation warrant.
Jonathan Noah Dilley, 43, was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 3:35 p.m. Wednesday. His booking information lists his address as 1933 Rosemont, Fort Wayne, and the charge against him as “sex crime – child molesting fondling or touching a child under 14.” His preliminary bond was set at $50,250.
A news release from the Indiana State Police on his arrest lists Dilley as a South Bend man. Court documents filed Oct. 6 give Dilley’s address as 1610 Chestnut St., Winona Lake.
Around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, the ISP release states, troopers began receiving information that Dilley might be at an address in South Bend. That information included that Dilley had an active arrest warrant out of Kosciusko County for Level 1 Child Molesting.
Troopers and officers with the South Bend Police Department Strategic Focus Unit located a 2009 Kia, which Dilley was believed to be driving, in a parking lot in the 1400 block of South Olive Street in South Bend. Dilley was not in the Kia at the time it was found, but he eventually returned to it and was safely taken into custody.
Dilley was taken to the Kosciusko County Jail for the active arrest warrant.
Court documents filed Oct. 6 in Kosciusko County courts list the charges against Dilley as child molesting, Level 1 felony; and child molesting, Level 4 felony.
On Nov. 25, 2020, according to court documents, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched a call in reference to a child molestation. The KCSO deputy arrived on the scene and spoke to the reporting party, who advised that while changing the diaper of a child, the child pointed to their bottom and said Dilley calls it “vulva.” The child also told the reporting party that Dilley sometimes licked the “vulva.”
On Nov. 26, 2020, a KCSO detective was contacted by a Department of Child Services case worker who advised that she was assigned to the investigation involving the child. The case worker told the detective that the child submitted to an examination at the Sexual Assault Treatment Center in Fort Wayne. During the examination, the child repeated that Dilley licks her bottom and internal female sex organ. The child also reported to the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner that Dilley told her not to tell anyone.
On Dec. 1, 2020, Kelly Bugg, director of the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center, conducted a forensic interview with the child. During the interview, the child told Bugg what Dilley did multiple times and that it occurred at Dilley’s Kosciusko County residence.
On June 24, 2021, the ISP Laboratory Division returned a report to the KCSO which indicated that male DNA was found on the child’s body and underwear. Due to the insufficient quantity of DNA, the laboratory was unable to develop a specific profile at this time, the court documents state, but the location of the male DNA was consistent with the information provided by the child.
