Thomas Charles Kincheloe (Laclede County Jail)
Authorities in Missouri have filed new charges accusing a 44-year-old man of using his wife’s home babysitting operation to commit sex crimes against multiple young children, including one who was 3 years old.
Thomas Charles Kincheloe is facing one new count each of statutory sodomy or attempted sodomy – deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 12, second-degree child molestation on a victim less than 12, and third-degree child molestation on a victim less than 14, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Kincheloe in December was charged with three counts of statutory sodomy or attempted sodomy – deviate sexual intercourse with a victim less than 12 and one count of second-degree child molestation on a victim less than 12.
According to an news release, the investigation into Kincheloe began when detectives with the Lebanon Police Department received a report from the Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division regarding allegations of sex crimes involving Kincheloe and a child under 10.
Following an investigation and an interview with Kincheloe, investigators said they were able to identify several other additional child victims of sexual abuse by Kincheloe.
Kincheloe was arrested on Dec. 29 and booked into the Laclede County Jail.
The latest charges against Kincheloe stem from three new cases, according to a report from Springfield NBC affiliate KYTV.
The earliest of the new charges reportedly allege that Kincheloe groped a 9-year-old girl who was at his home with her 11-year-old sister in February 2021.
The second case involved a 10-year-old girl who reported last month that she had been molested by Kincheloe.
“I don’t know what came over me to even try or want to,” Kincheloe allegedly told detectives at the Laclede County Jail when asked about the girl’s claims, according to KYTV. “I know right from wrong, and I do my best not to. This is one of the worst crimes ever, and I’m the one to have done it.”
Kincheloe allegedly admitted that his inappropriate interactions with the young victims typically occurred when his wife went out shopping and left him to watch the children, according to KYTV.