A Marion man is custody for an 18-count indictment for sex crimes that involve a 9-year-old girl. Twenty-nine year-old Derek M. Merrill, has been indicted on six counts of rape, six counts of kidnapping, four counts of gross sexual imposition, and two counts of abduction, in Marion County Common Pleas Court.
Merrill is accused of raping the 9-year-old on several occasions from October of last year to January of this year. Merrill was taken into custody last Tuesday about 1 a.m. in the 300 block of South Prospect Street. According to court records he plead not guilty to the charges. He is also being investigated by Florida officials in connection to a possible sexual assault of another child in Florida.