Teen accused of raping 7-year-old on school bus in Indiana to be tried as adult

WAVE 3 News ^ | June 16, 2025 | staff

[Morgana]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A 15-year-old accused of raping a 7-year-old on a school bus in central Indiana has now been charged as an adult, according to NBC-affiliate WTHR.

WTHR reported a judge in Jennings County waived Landon Doty, of North Vernon, to adult court. According to court documents, the victim suffers from “moderate to severe autism” and is non-verbal.

The family of the victim said he was sexually assaulted multiple times on his school bus. Court documents say the alleged crimes took place on the bus while being taken to school in the morning/afternoon in front of other children.

Doty is currently being held at the Jennings County Jail, as he was previously being held at the juvenile detention center in Clark County. Doty’s jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 20.

[9YearLurker]

Oh, jeez—that’s of course much worse! Should have been other kids of sufficient age to intervene or at least report it.

[metmom]

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[jacknhoo]

Exactly.

[b4me]

wonder what the 15 year old has been through himself to even think of doing that?

abused himself? or just a messed up brain due to videos/internet/drugs/etc?

whatever the case, I am glad he was moved up to adult court.

prayers for the 7 year old.

[b4me]

I also think any of the witness kids on the bus, the multiple times the 7 year old was raped, should all also be charged as accomplice or some thing. No excuse for all those other kid to not say some thing to a teacher or parent when witnessing that once, let alone multiple times.

Heck I was bullied but being tripped or some thing like that is not criminal. Kids today have no respect/regard for what is a criminal act? Don’t they teach kids/teens to help others anymore? or report a crime?

[Mark was here]

Do you have a link to the video handy?

[montag813]

the victim suffers from “moderate to severe autism” and is non-verbal.

Death penalty

[packagingguy]

The way I read it the victim was the one who was the non-verbal autistic kid.

[Red Badger]

Rural school bus had kids of all ages......

[Bigg Red]

I second that.

[heartwood]

The victim is a non-verbal special education student who was improperly seated directly next to a much older 15-year-old student and was helplessly left unmonitored by two school employees who were on the bus and charged with caring for his safety," Swafford said. "Video camera footage later downloaded from inside the bus shows that, on multiple occasions, the victim was sexually assaulted and raped, but neither the Corporation’s bus driver nor the extra bus monitor employee did anything to stop the assaults.

From a linked article. Monitor was probably on his/her phone.

The accused is charged as an adult so his disability is not severe enough to preclude criminal responsibility. "I'm basically screwed," he is quoted in the other article.

does that mean his disability was a behavior problem and putting him with smaller children should have been an obvious No?

[heartwood]

The victim was the autistic child, not the accused.