Suspended Priest Arrested in Hamilton County Sexual Abuse Case

By Vic Ryckaert and Andrew Clark
Indianapolis Star
October 29, 2019

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2019/10/29/indiana-suspended-priest-arrested-hamilton-county-sexual-abuse-case/2493933001/

A suspended Indianapolis priest was in the Hamilton County Jail Tuesday on felony charges stemming from allegations he sexually abused a teen.

The Rev. David J. Marcotte was booked into the jail at 4:47 a.m. Tuesday on felony charges of child solicitation, vicarious sexual gratification and dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, records show. He was released on his own recognizance, according to the Hamilton County sheriff's office.

Marcotte, 32, appeared in Hamilton Superior Court for an initial hearing on Tuesday afternoon. His next hearing was scheduled for Jan. 7.

Marcotte, who most recently served as a chaplain for Roncalli High School, was suspended from priestly duties on Feb. 12, just six days after the Archdiocese of Indianapolis said it received an abuse complaint.

David J. Marcotte (Photo: Hamilton County Sheriff's Office)

According to a probable cause affidavit, Marcotte was working at St. Malachy Church and School in Brownsburg when he abused the child in 2017 and 2018. Marcotte was also assigned to St. Martin of Tours Parish in Martinsville at the time, according to the archdiocese.

Documents filed in Hamilton Superior Court indicate the child is a boy, now 17.

According to the affidavit, the boy was 14 when Marcotte befriended his family in 2016.