A Liberty Township man has been charged with rape for repeatedly assaulting a disabled family member who, according to charging documents, has the mental capacity of an 8- to 10-year-old.
Deputies with the Porter County Sheriff’s Department took Robert Keith Williams, 52, into custody around 5:38 a.m. Tuesday on a Level 3 felony charge of rape, according to a release from that department. Williams was formally charged Wednesday.
According to charging documents, deputies were called around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday to St. Joseph Health Systems in Mishawaka about a sexual assault kit completed for a woman, 48, with intellectual disabilities.
The alleged victim, who splits her time between family members’ households, including Williams’, told police that Williams entered her room Monday night and told her to take her clothing off as he had done before and that it had been “happening for a while.”
The woman told police she got on the floor as Williams was going to “lay on top of her.” He proceeded to rape her, documents state, including with a foreign object.
Another family member said the woman’s “emotional level is that of a little kid” who is not capable of living on her own.
The family member reportedly walked into the woman’s bedroom late Monday night when she heard the woman mumbling and found her naked on the floor and Williams naked from the waist down.
Williams told the family member that he screwed up and this was the first time it had happened, and that he was “weak.”
The woman told the family member that Williams had been assaulting her for some time, in multiple incidents. However, she has a hard time defining time and was unable to convey when the assaults began.
“Victim 1 advised she did not speak about the touching, because Robert told her not to tell anyone,” charges state.
Williams, who remains in custody, has an initial hearing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday before Porter Superior Court Judge Michael Fish, according to online court records.
