Social app at center of teen sex case

FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) - An alert for parents of teens with smart phones: Do you know who your children are talking to? A Fishers man is in jail after police say he sexually assaulted a juvenile, and police said the man met the teen on a chat app called Grindr.

The investigation began after a 14-year-old boy alerted police.

Grindr is a popular social chat app for men seeking men, but a Fishers man is in trouble after being accused of using the app to hook up with a teen. Fishers police said 30-year-old Adam Carlisle used the app and had a sexual encounter with the 14-year-old boy.

"This whole incident spanned a time frame of 24 hours from first contact to encounter," said Fishers Police Officer Tom Weger, spokesman for the department.

Police said on March 3 Carlisle started a conversation with the teen. According to the probable cause affidavit, investigators recovered the conversations Carlisle had with the victim on Grindr.

In one conversation, the teen tells Carlisle he is 14 years old.

Carlisle replied: "You should probably be careful on here. And yeah, you're young. But talking isn't hurting anything."

But police said Carlisle did more than talk. He invited the teen over to his Fishers home, where they watched a movie and had a sexual encounter.

"We were notified by the victim that he had been involved in a sexual encounter with an adult male," Weger said.

What's also alarming, police said, is that Carlisle was a councilor at Tri-Central Elementary School in the Tipton County town of Sharpsville.

"Because he had access to children in the past as a counselor, there's likely more victims," Weger said.

An arrest warrant was issued for Carlisle on Tuesday and he turned himself in on Thursday.

Police said the victim's parents didn't know about the incident until they notified them. They are now warning parents to check the apps their teens are downloading on their smart phones.

"We would just strongly encourage parents to closely monitor the communications their children have via the Internet, via their cell phones, with strangers," Weger said.

Police said they recovered a lot of evidence from the suspect’s home, including DNA samples from more than one male. As for Carlisle’s job with Tri-Central Elementary, he has been suspended.

He’s facing three charges of sexual misconduct with a minor, a Class B felony; two charges of child solicitation, a Class C felony; and one charge of sexual miscount with a minor, a Class C felony.