TRAFALGAR, Ind. — A foreign exchange student came to Trafalgar, Indiana looking for a safe home while he attended high school. But police say what he got instead was a home where he was manipulated into sexual behavior — including a card game where he had to remove all of his clothes.

The student came from Spain on July 29, 2021 into the Trafalgar home of 53-year-old Enos Dotson, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Not even two months later, the Trafalgar police department started an investigation into what allegedly went on in the home.

A report of the alleged sexual manipulation reached an Indian Creek High School guidance counselor on August 19, 2021 after the foreign exchange student told a classmate about the behavior. The classmate told the counselor who then alerted the Department of Child Services.

The exchange student told investigators Dotson would make “challenges” when they would play a card game that had sexual innuendos on the cards themselves.

One of those challenges included requiring the game’s loser to lose an article of clothing. The student said he wound up completely naked and told Dotson he did not want to play anymore and was embarrassed.

According to court documents, the week following the card game, Dotson said to the student. “You don’t have to be embarrassed about being naked. You should be proud.”

Dotson reportedly told the student to record naked videos of himself when he was home alone to become more comfortable being nude.

The student also told investigators Dotson gave him a rum and Coke to drink during the card game. He said he went to the bathroom and when he came back, his drink tasted “very bad.”

Court documents also say the student was shown a video off of Dotson’s cell phone that showed Dotson touching himself in his underwear.

The Trafalgar Police Department obtained a search warrant for both of Dotson’s phones and found a video just like the one the juvenile described.

Dotson was charged in June of 2022 with dissemination of matter harmful to minors and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

He told police he had had 16 other exchange students in his home, but it’s unknown if there is any investigation into what may have happened during those students’ stays.

The Spanish student was removed from Dotson’s home the same day the school counselor contacted DCS in 2021. The student was placed with a new family.

Dotson worked as an instruction assistant at Pleasant Crossing Elementary in the Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation.

Superintendent Dr. Patrick Spray provided a statement, which said in part, “Once administration was aware of these charges, the staff member was immediately placed on unpaid administrative leave pending further investigation and possible dismissal. As with all school corporation employees, this employee had undergone a criminal history background check, which did not produce any red flags. Police investigators stated they had been investigating him since September [2021] however none of the jurisdictions involved ever shared that information with the school corporation.”

Spray said to the district’s knowledge, Dotson never had any illegal contact with any Clark-Pleasant students.