Rape charge against former deputy dropped

A judge has dismissed a rape charge against a former Marion County Sheriff's deputy.

Hendricks Superior Judge Karen Love on Friday granted a prosecutor's request to dismiss a rape charge against Deputy Craig Ryland.

Prosecuting attorney Patricia Ann Baldwin told The Indianapolis Star that the woman who said she was raped later changed her story.

In December, when Ryland was charged with one count of rape, the woman said she had invited Ryland over to help her fix some things around her apartment, court documents said. Later the two ordered a Redbox movie and drank some whiskey before having sex, some of which was consensual, according to the document.

Ryland turned himself in to the Hendrick's County Sheriff's Office in December after police secured an arrest warrant, the Star reported.

Ryland, a 7-year veteran of the Marion County Sheriff's Office, was placed on unpaid administrative leave pending an investigation, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Katie Carlson said in December.

He was later fired.

The Star has reached out to Ryland's defense attorney, Herb D. Witham, for comment.

Call Star reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.