A Chesterton man has been arrested on multiple counts of child molesting, the Porter County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

Scott W. Nicol, 53, with listed addresses at 1001 S. 21st St. in Chesterton and 6522 Fairview Ave. in Portage, was charged with four counts of child molesting: two of the Class A felonies punishable by a term of 20 to 50 years; two of them Class C felonies, punishable by a term of two to eight years.

Nicol was booked into the Porter County Jail on Wednesday.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Det. Janis Regnier of the Portage Police Department, on March 11 a babysitter told a Portage mother that her two daughters—both younger than 14—reported multiple intimate contacts with her ex-boyfriend, Nicol.

In an interview on March 16, with an Indiana Department of Child Services caseworker, one girl told the caseworker that Nicol would take her into the bathroom, the other that he would “come into her room at night,” while their mother either was sleeping or at work, Regnier stated in her affidavit.

Both girls advised that the incidents occurred more than 10 times, Regnier stated.

One of the girls “said she did not tell her mother about this because she believed she would get in trouble if she did, though Nicol never told (the girl) this,” Regnier stated.

Nicol, for his part, refused to answer questions in an interview on May 9, Regnier stated.

Posted 10/15/2012