Merrillville Male Charged With Numerous Crimes Against Children
According to Court documents, a Detective with the Lake County Sheriffβs Department was assigned to investigate the report of child molesting that had occurred in Gary between February 1, 2023, and April 30, 2023.
On March 27, 2023, at approximately 1:29am, Officers were dispatched to a residence in Gary in reference to a home invasion. Upon arrival, the Officers learned that the victimβs mother had seen a male subject in her daughterβs bedroom. The male subject identified himself as βJasonβ and then jumped out of the victimβs bedroom window.
On April 16, 2023, at approximately 12:09am, the police were again dispatched to the residence due to a disturbance between the victim and her father. After catching the male subject sneaking into her room, the father had punished his daughter by taking away her phone. The father then caught his daughter back on her phone and demanded that she give him her phone. The daughter refused, attempted to hide the phone, and then forcefully pushed past her father, who held her back.
According to Court documents, police were called back to the residence later that same day due to a disturbance between the mother and the victim. The mother indicated that her daughter left the residence and attempted to walk to a location on Hayes Street in Merrillville, in an effort to meet a male subject known as βKJ.β The mother also advised the police that she had discovered inappropriate messages between her daughter and βKJ,β which included messages stating that βKJβ was 19 years old. The victim is under the age of 14. The mother further advised police that she had also found a video sent to her daughter from βKJβ of βKJβ having sexual intercourse with a female.
Mother advised police she believes this βKJβ person is the same male subject that they caught in their residence back in March, 2023. Mother further indicated that her daughter admitted to having sexual intercourse with this person. Mother stated that, even though they took away her phone, their daughter has found other ways to continue to communicate with this person, by using her siblingsβ phones or the iPad. The Father was able to provide police with 2 phone numbers that the male subject was using to communicate with their daughter. The parents also provided a screenshot of the male subjectβs snapchat/instagram name. Additionally, the mother provided police with screenshots of other communications between their daughter and the male subject. The mother explained that their daughter had told them that the male subject was 15 years old, but the messages between the male subject and their daughter state that he is really 19 years old. The victim was using instagram and text messaging to communicate with the male subject. Included in the screenshots were messages from the victim to the male subject detailing the sexual acts she and the male subject had performed.
On April 26, 2023, during an interview with the victim, she indicated that the male subject lives on Hayes Street in Merrillville. She stated that they met on instagram and then met up in person a week later. She indicated that the male subject told her he was 15 years old. The victim stated that the male subject came over to her house twice. She stated that they had sex both times. She stated it was the second time that he came over to her house that he got caught and jumped out her bedroom window.
According to the court documents, the police were able to use the information provided by the parents in order to investigate the identity of the male subject. Police identified Kaylan Haines, who was 19 years old and resides on Hayes Street in Merrillville, as the potential suspect. When shown a picture of Haines, the victimβs mother confirmed that was the same person she saw in her daughterβs room back in March, 2023, and it was the same person she had seen in photos on her daughterβs iPad.
In June of 2023, officers spoke with Kaylan Haines, who claimed he did not know the victim. Haines called the police from one of the phone numbers the parents of the victim had previously provided to police. When advised that photos of him were found on the victimβs phone, Haines requested the photos be sent to him. Haines denied having an instagram account with the username previously provided by the victimβs parents. Haines then refused to speak any further, indicating that his lawyer had advised him not to.
Police were able to determine that the other phone number that the parents had provided also belonged to Haines. Police were able to obtain a search warrant for the instagram account username provided by the victimβs parents. The warrant returned photos of Kaylan Haines and included conversations between Haines and the victim, one of which was sexual in nature.
A search warrant was also obtained for the victimβs instagram account. This warrant returned photos that the victim had sent to Haines. One photo was of a female nude body with a necklace, which the victimβs mother identified as a necklace that belonged to her daughter.
Kaylon Haines has been charged with the following:
Count I – Child Molesting, a Level 3 Felony – Intercourse with a child under the age of 14
Count II – Child Molesting, a Level 3 Felony – Intercourse with a child under the age of 14
Count III – Child Molesting, a Level 4 Felony – Fondling/touching of a child under the age of 14
County IV – Child Molesting, a Level 4 Felony – Fondling/touching of a child under the age of 14
Count V – Possession of Child Pornography, a Level 6 Felony
County VI – Possession of Child Pornography, a Level 6 Felony
Count VII – Inappropriate Communication with a Child, a Class A Misdemeanor
