Hammond man charged with molesting girls in 1991 in Valpo home

VALPARAISO | A recently paroled Hammond man has been charged with two Class A felony counts of child molesting in connection with a 21-year-old case.

According to documents filed Wednesday in Porter Superior Court, a parole officer contacted Valparaiso police Jan. 31 and told them Duane Rogers, 48, confessed at a meeting upon his release from prison that he molested two girls in 1991.

Valparaiso detectives went through the department's cold cases and found a molestation accusation from February 1991. According to the file, a father said while he was hospitalized after surgery he left his 8-year-old daughter in Rogers' care at their Evans Avenue home. He accused Rogers of molesting his daughter, then 8, and the girl's 11-year-old cousin, who was sleeping over one night.

At the time, Rogers denied the allegations and told police the girls likely were upset with him for scolding them.

Detectives found both the girls named in the accusation, now women in their late 20s and early 30s. Police said they had vivid recollections of Rogers fondling them and performing a sex act on them.

The woman who was 8 years old at the time told detectives she invited her cousin over because Rogers previously fondled her and she thought if she had someone else with her it wouldn't happen again.

Both women said they suffered "severe mental anguish" as a result of the alleged molestation.

On Tuesday, detectives met with Rogers during a previously scheduled parole meeting. Officers said he told them he molested the girls.

Rogers was arrested and taken to Porter County Jail.

In 2006, Rogers pleaded guilty to molesting an 11-year-old girl while a guest at her parents' Portage home, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He also has previous convictions for sexual battery, burglary and failing to register as a sex offender.