OCALA, FL (352today.com) – A Morriston man was arrested by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy on Sept. 3, 2025, and has been charged with multiple felonies, including sexual battery on a minor less than 12 years of age.
Darrin Scott Elmer Caldwell, 63, Morriston, was arrested on two counts of sexual battery, four counts of lewd or lascivious molestation to a victim under 12 years of age and 2 counts of lewd or lascivious molestation to a victim 12 years or older.
A Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded in reference to a call on Aug. 6, 2025, regarding allegations of historical sexual abuse to multiple victims in the same family.
The preliminary investigation revealed a handwritten note from a women’s daughter, that detailed an incident where the accused had touched her inappropriately. The victim would disclose other incidents of sexual abuse involving the accused.
The other children in the home were questioned about the accused, with the youngest and oldest daughters disclosing historical sexual abuse by the accused, with all of the incidents reportedly occurring in Marion County.
During a forensic interview with the victim at Kimberly’s Center for Child Protection on Aug. 7, 2025, she explained that the accused touched her inappropriately multiple times, with the victim telling him to stop, but he refused to. The alleged would often say to the victim not to say anything as it was their little secret, and the victim didn’t say anything about the incidents until recently.
One of the incidents occurred when the victim’s mother was mowing the lawn and her father was at work, and she was on a social media platform with a friend, with the accused again touching her inappropriately, not realizing the phone call was still active.
There was also a previous incident, where the accused asked the victim to watch something with him, exposing her to pornography, with her not knowing what it was at the time. He also made her touch him inappropriately. The victim recalled that she felt afraid and uncomfortable. The victim also said the accused used a sex aid device, on her and himself.
In December 2024, the victim began harming herself, cutting her legs.
On one occasion, when the victim wore shorts, the scars were visible, and her mother asked her about it, but she didn’t answer. Later in the day, the mother confronted the daughter about the cuts on her legs, and she went and got a pen and paper and wrote down the details about the accused’s sexual abuse.
The following day, the victim placed the note where her mother would find it. The mother wasn’t aware of the incidents that had been occurring.
On Aug. 26, 2025, the deputy spoke with the victim’s mother who told him the sex toy may still be in the accused’s room. Law enforcement obtained a residential search warrant and observed and collected the device.
The accused was located and detained on Sept. 3, 2025, by the MCSO US Marshals Task Force Officers and transported to the Criminal Investigations Division for further questioning.
The victim’s father confronted the accused after a post-Miranda interview, with the victim’s handwritten letter, asking if the statements in the letter were true. The deputy pulled a up a digital copy of the letter, pausing at certain points to ask if what the victim had written was true. The accused didn’t deny what was in the letter but didn’t recall saying to the victim that it was their little secret.
At the conclusion of the interview, the defendant was transported to the Marion County Jail.
