A Cave City man has been charged in Independence County Circuit Court with rape.
The court information says throughout 2002, Matthew T. Hipp, 36, did unlawfully engage in deviate sexual activity with another person who was less than 14 years of age.
The arresting agency, the Independence County Sheriff’s Department, said they received a report of a possible sexual assault which occurred multiple times when the victim was a minor. The incidents apparently occurred at a residence in the Pleasant Plains area when the suspect lived there.
In the Affidavit of Probable Cause for Arrest, Hipp told authorities that he didn’t mean to hurt the victim, but he just thought that was how a person showed affection for another.
The incidents apparently occurred while the victim spent the night at Hipp’s residence. Hipp would have been around 20 years old during the noted time period.
Hipp has been taken into custody and placed on a $10,000 cash only bond.
If a person is convicted, rape is punishable by imprisonment for not less than 10 years or more than 40 years, or life, and a fine not exceeding $25,000.
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