CHARLESTOWN — Police are asking the public’s help locating a Charlestown woman facing eight felony charges.

Charlestown police are looking for Juanita Lanae Fisher, 35, of the 300 block of Berkley Road. Police reported that Fisher has been on home incarceration since being released from Michael L. Becher Adult Correctional Complex in Jeffersonville Jan. 5, 2012.

In August 2011, Fisher was arrested and charged in Clark County Circuit Court No. 1 with two counts child molesting, both class A felonies; incest, a class B felony; child molesting, class C felony; two counts vicarious sexual gratification, both class C felonies; and obstruction of justice, a class D felony.

Fisher was scheduled to appear in Clark County Circuit No. 1 at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 4, for a sentencing hearing stemming from a plea deal that had been reached with Clark County prosecutors.

Police reported that about 9 a.m. Friday, CPD officers received a call from Fisher’s roommate that Fisher had cut her home incarceration tracking device from her ankle, stole the roommate’s credit card and fled.  Officers immediately notified prosecutors of the situation, police reported, and her plea deal was revoked.

A trial date was scheduled for February.  

Fisher now faces an additional charge of escape, a class D felony.

According to the CPD, Fisher is believed to be with her husband, Joshua Cox.  

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Fisher is asked to call 911 or Charlestown police at 812-256-6345.



HISTORY

Fisher was arrested in August 2011, after Charlestown police conducted a two-week investigation into sexual abuse allegations.

Charlestown police said, shortly after taking Fisher into custody, that the allegations leading to her arrest surround various sexual acts between the defendant and children between the ages of 8 and 12 over the past four to five years.

Then-Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Brittany Blau previously said the abuse involved two children, a male and female, who are related to Fisher and that the allegations point to abuse that took place several years ago.

Detective Chuck Ledbetter with CPD said in 2011 that Fisher did not have a prior criminal record, but she had a lengthy history with Child Protective Services.

It was reported in 2011, that a boy, who is now a teenager, told his foster parent Aug. 5 of that year that Fisher had “kind of” touched him “with her lips” when he was 8 or 9, according to a probable-cause affidavit. He also said she would have sex with men in front of him and his sisters to teach them how to have sex.

When confronted by investigators, several days after the teenager made the accusations, Fisher denied those allegations. The following day, the teenager also denied Fisher had molested him.

A week later, he told Child Protective Services that Fisher told him during a phone call that he would go to juvenile detention and she would go to jail if he told investigators what happened. He said he had been sexually abused by Fisher. He then described numerous sexual acts. His younger sister confirmed the allegations.

According to the report, Fisher had also told the child and his younger sister to take their clothes off and fondle each other while she watched.

Fisher told police that she has five children, and all of them live in different locations due to her past history with the Child Protective Services.

She had been named in at least 10 cases but had never faced criminal charges, according to police.