Tanner Moyer

SOUTH WHITLEY — Tanner Moyer, owner of Moyer’s Cruise In, Silver Lake and Moyer’s Corner Cafe, South Whitley, was arrested on Oct. 4 on charges of child molestation.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Aug. 22, an individual went to the South Whitley Police Department to file a complaint involving the alleged molestation of her son by Moyer.

An officer interviewed the alleged victim on Aug. 31. The victim, who is now eighteen years old, stated he has known Tanner Moyer since he was four years old.

He stated he was a close friend of Moyer. Moyer would often babysit the victim at the victim’s residence. Moyer was considered to be a father/uncle figure to him.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the alleged victim described his first memory of the alleged inappropriate contact between him and Moyer occurred when he was approximately four to five years old. He stated someone came into his home and grabbed his private parts while he was sleeping. Although the victim did not open his eyes during the incident, he believed it to be Moyer who touched him.

The victim’s next memory of the a similar act occurring was when he was in sixth grade. Moyer came to his family’s home and took the victim with him to spend the night at Moyer’s house, which was just outside of South Whitley. When it was time to go to bed, the victim wanted to sleep in the living room but Moyer insisted they both sleep in the same bed.

During the night, the victim woke up and realized Moyer had his hand inside the victim’s clothing and was rubbing his penis.

The next incident occurred when the victim was still in sixth grade. Moyer again came to visit and took the victim to his house to spend the night. During the visit, Moyer asked if the victim wanted to watch a movie with him. The victim walked into Moyer’s bedroom and found Moyer standing naked at the foot of his bed watching a “porno” movie and masturbating. Moyer then started touching the victim’s penis and after the victim’s clothing was removed, Moyer performed oral sex on him.

During the victim’s sixth grade year, mutual oral sex began between the two. During this time, Moyer began giving the victim money before or after the sex acts, usually amounting to $50 or $100.

During the time the victim was in seventh and eighth grade, there were many times the victim would stay the weekend at Moyer’s residence in South Whitley. The victim stated every time he would spend the weekend with Moyer, there would be sexual contact between the two of them. Many times they would spend time in the hot tub outside of Moyer’s home. Moyer would be drinking alcohol on many of these occasions and would offer alcohol to the victim.

The sexual activity would almost always include Moyer performing oral sex on the victim and the victim performing oral sex on Moyer. Moyer requested and offered anal sex but the victim stated no anal sex ever occurred between them.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, when the victim was a freshman in high school, he stated he believed the address where he lived at the time was one of Moyer’s rental properties. Oral sex continued to occur both at Moyer’s residence and his home.

The victim also described an incident which occurred when he was helping Moyer renovate an apartment above Moyer’s restaurant in South Whitley. On that occasion, Moyer offered the victim $40 to let Moyer, “Have his way with me,” said the victim.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the victim described an incident which occurred when he was 15. Moyer called one night “obviously” drunk and he apologized for having molested the victim. The victim stated Moyer said he was sorry about 100 times. Moyer stated he had been molested when he was younger.

The victim stated there was one more incident of oral sex between the two of them after the phone call, but that was the last time the two of them had sexual contact.

The victim estimated that from the very first time until the last, oral sex had occurred between Moyer and himself between seventy-five and one hundred times.

On July 18, an unknown caller contacted the Department of Child Services Hotline and reported that Moyer had offered a different juvenile male money in exchange for allowing Moyer to watch him masturbate. The caller further advised that after the male declined the offer, Moyer masturbated in the presence of the juvenile.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, an officer interviewed the second victim on Aug. 25. When an officer interviewed the victim, he stated he had known Moyer since he was a baby.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, on an afternoon in November or December 2015, the victim was picked up at his home in South Whitley by Moyer. The pair traveled to a restaurant in Silver Lake that was owned and was being remodeled by Moyer. Moyer showed the juvenile around the building and then started their return trip to South Whitley.

The juvenile stated Moyer had picked up beer, and was drinking it. The victim stated Moyer was not intoxicated. While they drove towards South Whitley, Moyer handed the victim his cell phone and showed him pornographic movies of men and women engaging in sexual acts.

Before taking the victim home, Moyer stopped at his father’s property to drop off some scrap metal. After unloading the scrap metal, Moyer offered the juvenile $50 if he would masturbate in front of Moyer. The juvenile told him no. Shortly after that conversation, the juvenile was called and told it was time for him to be home.

Prior to leaving the property, the victim went into the woods to urinate. When he came back and got into Moyer’s truck, he observed Moyer had his pants and underwear down and was masturbating while watching pornography on his phone. The juvenile got out of the truck and started walking home. Moyer followed him and eventually persuaded him to get in the truck so he could drive him home.

While driving home, Moyer reached over and touched the victim’s pants in the area of his “private area”, while asking if he was hard. The juvenile pushed Moyer’s hand away. Sometime prior to dropping the victim off at home, Moyer told him that what took place, “Stays between me and you.”

The affidavit states the second victim first denied that anything happened between him and Moyer during his initial interview with an officer. Later on, the victim indicated he had a friend who shared that her brother had recently come forward with allegations about Moyer. He stated hearing another victim had come forward was what prompted him to agree to a second interview and tell the truth.

Moyer was booked in the Whitley County Jail on Oct. 4, on a bond of $75,000 on charges of child molesting, two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and child solicitation.