Richard Gast
Introduction
Richard Gast, a 60-year-old Knox, Indiana, man, was arrested October 19, 2026 and charged with four felonies — two counts of rape and two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor — over the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage boy. The arrest came a year after Gast completed a Starke County sentence for a child-sex offense: in 2024 he was convicted through a plea agreement for activity related to an obscene performance, sentenced to 30 months in the Indiana Department of Correction, and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years. He is being held at the Starke County Justice Center on a $250,000 cash bond.
Background Information
Court records show Gast was convicted in Starke County in 2024 through a plea agreement for activity related to an obscene performance. Charges of vicarious sexual gratification and inappropriate communication with a child were dismissed as part of that agreement. He was sentenced to 30 months in the Indiana Department of Correction, received credit for 460 days already served, and was required to register as a sex offender for ten years — a sentence he had substantially served by the time of the new arrest.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, not convicted. Gast faces two rape counts and two sexual-misconduct-with-a-minor counts filed in October 2026. The new allegations are unadjudicated and he is presumed innocent as to them, though his 2024 conviction is a matter of court record.
According to charging documents, the teenage victim told investigators that Gast said he was a pastor — but the victim later learned that he was not. The victim also told investigators that Gast did “nasty” things to him multiple times, per the documents. Detectives said they have been unable to identify any church affiliated with Gast as a youth pastor, and investigators noted a prior sexual abuse investigation in which Gast was named as a suspect and made the same claim about being a pastor — a claim that could not be confirmed in that earlier case either, according to the documents.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The arrest drew regional coverage in the Michiana area, where WNDU reported the case alongside the detail that separated it from an ordinary criminal docket: a repeat suspect presenting himself as a member of the clergy. Detectives’ inability to tie Gast to any church — across two separate investigations, years apart — means the pastor claim he allegedly used has never checked out, and no congregation has been identified as his. No public statement from Gast or an attorney has been reported.
Current Status
Gast was arrested October 19, 2026 and is being held at the Starke County Justice Center on a $250,000 cash bond. No plea has been entered or reported, no trial date has been set, and no attorney of record has been named in coverage of the case. The new charges remain pending, and he remains presumed innocent of them.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Gast’s second child-sex case in two years leaves him facing a potential sentence far beyond the 30 months his 2024 plea produced, with two rape counts and two sexual-misconduct counts now pending on top of an active ten-year sex offender registration. The fake-pastor detail — unverified twice, in two different investigations — has made the case a cautionary one in a small county where a claimed position of trust is supposed to mean something. Whatever the outcome in court, his 2024 conviction already ensures his name stays on Indiana’s sex offender registry for a decade.
Sources
- WNDU 16 News Now, “Knox man charged with rape, sexual misconduct with a minor” — source