Jeremiah Coffer (Photo courtesy of Izard County Sheriff’s Office)
A man being sought for the rape of a minor in Izard County has turned himself into authorities. Thirty-nine-year-old Jeremiah Coffer of Melbourne was booked into the Izard County Detention Center Tuesday afternoon on one felony count each of rape and first-degree sexual assault and four felony counts of second-degree sexual assault.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the Izard County Sheriff’s Office was notified April 13 by the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline of an alleged sexual assault. Investigators from Izard County and the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division interviewed the victim. Coffer is accused of inappropriate sexual contact with the victim on five separate occasions between January 1 of last year and April 11 of this year.
The next day, the investigators interviewed Coffer at the sheriff’s office. He reportedly spoke with the investigators for a brief period of time before his defense attorney arrived and stopped the interview. The attorney was reportedly hired unbeknownst to Coffer by his mother.
According to Sheriff Jack Yancey, authorities had been seeking Coffer since charges were filed against him in Izard County Circuit Court on June 17. The rape charge is a Class Y felony, the most serious classification of crime in Arkansas not punishable by death. Coffer’s bond is set at $300,000.
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