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Molestation charge filed

• An Albany man is arrested on child molestation charges Sunday morning.

Joshua Brown

ALBANY — An Albany man has been arrested on charges of child molestation after police say he molested a 12-year-old girl.

Otis Robert Tripp, 34, was booked into the Dougherty County Jail about 3 a.m. Sunday on charges of aggravated sodomy and child molestation, jail records show.

Albany Police Department spokeswoman Phyllis Banks said the sodomy charge was in the process of being dropped, but additional charges of aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery were being levied upon him.

Banks said he “touched inappropriately in a sexual manner” a 12-year-old girl. The Albany Herald does not identify victims in sexual assault cases.

According to an incident report, Tripp’s wife, Crystal, walked into the living room of their home around 6 p.m. Saturday and saw the man whispering to the girl, leaving her with a “feeling (that) what he said to her was not anything good.”

Tripp’s wife took the girl to a store and asked her what they were doing, the report says. The girl initially said they were making jokes, according to the report, but upon further questioning said Tripp had been touching her.

Tripp was still being held in the Dougherty County Jail as of Monday evening, a jailer said.

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