A Lowndes County grand jury has indicted an Alabama man for multiple felonies after he allegedly sexually abused two children under 14 over a period of two years.
Frank D. Harrison, 57, of Ethelsville, Alabama, faces three counts of sexual battery and one count of touching a child for lustful purposes. According to circuit court documents, Harrison abused the children multiple times between January 2011 and December 2013 while in Lowndes County.
The Dispatch does not identify victims of sex crimes. However, the indictment says Harrison was in a position of trust or authority over the victims at the time the incidents allegedly occurred.
Deputies with Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office arrested Harrison in November for three counts of sexual battery and two counts of touching a child for lustful purposes, in response to a report from the State of Mississippi Division of Child Protection Services.
Harrison is currently in custody at Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. His circuit bond has not been set.
The grand jury also indicted a woman accused of helping a murder suspect attempt to escape from jail in September.
Shanice Nottage, 26, of 148 Maple St., has been charged with conspiracy. The Dispatch previously reported she conspired with her boyfriend, 27-year-old Joshua Murry, to break Murry out of Lowndes County Jail by having Nottage impersonate a Mississippi Department of Corrections officer and pretend to take him into custody.
Nottage has been released from custody on $2,500 circuit bond.
Murry is in custody at Lowndes County Adult Detention Center after he allegedly murdered Starkville resident Jarrel Ward, 24, in August. He has not been indicted on that charge.
Two people arrested last fall were also indicted for contributing to the neglect of a child, according to Lowndes County Circuit Court documents. Carissa Lee Vaccaro and Jordan Cox, both 24, are accused of depriving medical care to their 7-week-old infant.
Investigators with Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office previously told The Dispatch the infant was admitted to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, and later University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, in October with a broken femur bone. Medical professionals later determined the child had multiple injuries at different stages of healing and that those injuries had been caused by another person and had not been treated correctly.
Vaccaro is a second lieutenant with the Air Force assigned at Columbus Air Force Base. Cox is not officially affiliated with CAFB.
Both Vaccaro and Cox have been released from custody on $10,000 circuit bonds.
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