Winchester man pleads guilty to child solicitation in Blackford County
HARTFORD CITY, Ind. — A Winchester, Indiana, man has admitted to trying to arrange sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Aaron Shane Darnell, 30, was actually communicating online with a Blackford County sheriff's deputy posing as a junveile. Darnell was arrested in May 2022 when he took steps to meet with the person he had been communicating with via Facebook.
He pleaded guilty last week in Blackford Circuit Court to child solicitation, a Level 4 felony carrying up to 12 years in prison.
However, under the terms of a plea agreement — taken under advisement by Judge Brian Bade — Darnell's sentence could not exceed four years in prison.
Bade tentatively set sentencing for March 11.
The deal also calls for a second count against the Winchester man, dissemination of matter harmful to minors, to be dismissed.
In May 2018, Darnell was convicted of dealing in meth in Jay Circuit Court.
In other court news:
Mistrial declared: The Randolph Circuit Court trial of a Winchester man charged with murder ended last week with a mistrial when jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Larry J. Planck III, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Isabel Hernandez, a 36-year-old woman who had been his girlfriend, last April 2.
Randolph County Prosecutor David Daly said Wednesday he intended to try Planck for a second time on the murder count.
In four other cases pending in the same court, Planck faces a total of 36 charges, including child exploitation, child molesting, child solicitation, possession of child pornography, promotion of child sexual trafficking, sexual battery and sexual misconduct with a minor.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Winchester man admits to trying to arrange sex with juvenile
