A man formerly from Jackson County, Indiana who is a suspect in a child abduction and molestation case that happened more than 15 years ago was arrested earlier this week in Oregon.
Charles Hollin, 61, was living under an assumed identity — Andrew David Hall. He faces federal charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and identity theft. He is being returned to Jackson County, where he will face felony charges for the crimes he allegedly committed in 1999.
A 10-year-old girl was alone Jan. 20, 1999, waiting outside a local girl’s club in Seymour, Indiana. A white man asked her to come to his car, where he said he had locked his keys inside and needed her help, according to court documents.
When they got close to the car, the man cupped his hand over the girl’s mouth and showed her a knife, threatening to kill her if she didn’t come with him.
He made her put a stocking mask over her head as he drove to a rural part of the county. When he stopped the car, he ordered her to undress and performed oral sex on her. He threatened to kill her if she told anyone what happened.
Then he left her there.
The man pulled away and tossed her belongings out of the car as he drove off, according to court documents. The girl was naked, alone on an isolated country road. She was later rescued by a passing driver.
When investigators went to the scene, they found the girl’s belongings, as well as another coat, which had a day planner with Charles Hollin’s name on it. Later, Hollin claimed the coat had been stolen from his car.
The FBI took samples from Hollin’s car and coat and from the victim’s coat, which had a possible semen sample on it. DNA testing showed that Hollin was a match for the sample. Fibers on both coats matched the inside of Hollin’s car.
The Jackson County prosecutor charged Hollin with two felony counts of confinement with a deadly weapon and three felony counts of child molestation. But when investigators went to arrest him, he had disappeared.
When investigators interviewed Hollin’s friends and co-workers, they learned he was an avid reader of detective magazines and had claimed to have many ways to disguise his identity, including fake hair pieces and mustaches. Hollin told his co-workers he knew the victim had identified him in a police lineup. He asked others if they would “‘pull a Houdini” if they were facing charges, according to police interviews.
“It would be better to be alienated on some tropical island somewhere than in a 10x10 jail cell,” Hollins told his co-workers, according to court documents. “If you want to, and you know how, you can become someone else just like that.”
Police have spent 16 years trying to find and arrest Hollin. The FBI used facial recognition technology to search national databases for someone who resembled him. On Dec. 20, 2016, they found a “likely match” off a passport application photo for Andrew David Hall. Hollin lived under this name for years and used it to obtain a social security card and three driver’s licenses in different states.
Investigators learned the original Andrew David Hall was an 8-year-old boy who had been hit by a car and killed in Kentucky in 1975.
“This case is a prime example of the tenacity of the FBI,” W. Jay Abbott, Indianapolis FBI Special Agent in Charge, said in a press release. “The public should be assured the FBI will not stop seeking justice for innocent victims.”
Hollin was apprehended in Oregon earlier this week while at work. He is currently in the custody of U.S. marshals and will soon be returned to Indiana.
If convicted on the federal charges, Hollin faces up to eight years imprisonment, according to Assistant United States Attorney Bradley P. Shepard, who is prosecuting the case.
If convicted on the Jackson County charges, Hollin faces decades of imprisonment.
