INDIANAPOLIS — A 53-year-old man babysat a 12-year-old boy during his spring break then molested him and repeatedly harassed and threatened the mother on the west side of Indianapolis from approximately March 5 – March 19, according to court documents.

Ronald May, 53, was arrested on one count of Child Molesting, a Level 1 Felony; another count of Child Molesting, a Level 4 Felony; 10 counts of Child Exploitation, Level 5 Felonies; and one count of Dissemination of Matter Harmful to minors, a Level 6 Felony.

IMPD was dispatched on April 23 around 5:08 p.m. on a report of a child molestation at the Speedway Police Station located at 5300 Crawfordsville Rd. When the policeman arrived on the scene, he spoke with the mother of the child victim who said that her 12-year-old son was being molested by May, her coworker at Dollar Tree.

The incident began when the victim’s mother, a store manager at Dollar Tree, needed to stay overnight more often to remodel the store. Then assistant manager at the Dollar Tree, May, offered to watch her kid and she trusted him because he was a good employee.

While at his home, located at the 6300 block of Rathmann Dr., May would force the boy to watch pornography. He also took approximately 39 nude pictures of the kid, in which the boy was sleeping, and attempted to take a video of the boy through a bathroom door. Further, May would wrestle with him, throw him on the bed, and force him to sleep naked next to him. Finally, May would also purchase him gifts and take him on excursions to a variety of different places.

The mom began to notice the boy’s behavior changed and after speaking with her son, she was able to discover the abuse. She then noticed the inappropriate text messages exchanged between them. May wrote to the boy, “Miss u,” “I would quite (sic) my job 4 u,” and insisted that he loved him multiple times.

The harassing texts from May also continued to the mom, where he constantly begged to spend time with the boy and threatened that he knows where she lives and that they could not hide from him.

On April 28, a search warrant was executed for Mays home where they located 24 devices and secured all of them. While 39 pictures of the minor were found, this is an ongoing investigation where detectives are still actively working and it is not immediately clear what was found on all of the devices.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 317-262-TIPS (8477).