Ryan McLaughlin will spend more than 184 years behind bars for repeatedly molesting a 5-year-old girl.
HENDRICKS COUNTY, Indiana — Ryan McLaughlin will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars after receiving a 184-year prison sentence this week for repeatedly molesting a 5-year-old girl.
Even so, Hendricks County Prosecutor Loren Delp, who secured that sentence, said Indiana should consider even tougher penalties for the worst child sex offenders.
According to the prosecutor’s office, McLaughlin was already a convicted sex offender, but still moved into a home with children and lied to authorities about any children living there.
Prosecutors said he abused the child repeatedly over months and threatened to kill her mother if she did not comply.
“We knew that the judge was going to essentially give this individual, based upon his history, based upon the number of aggravators, a very, very lengthy sentence, effectively a life sentence,” Delp said.
Despite the sentence, Delp said some child molestation cases are so severe they should carry penalties beyond what Indiana law currently allows.
“Are there not child molest offenses that are so heinous?” he said. “Are there not child molesters that are so off the charts heinous that the death penalty shouldn’t be put on the table?”
House Bill 1312, authored by State Rep. Andrew Ireland (R-Indianapolis), could do just that. The bill would create a new offense of aggravated child molesting and allow prosecutors to pursue either life without parole or the death penalty in certain cases.
Ireland did not respond to 13News’ request for comment.
However, State Rep. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville), who chairs the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee, said lawmakers are likely to continue discussing penalties for crimes against children.
“We have continued to pass laws ensuring those who harm our most vulnerable face even stronger penalties,” McNamara said in a statement. “I expect some part of that discussion will come again during our legislative session, and I am dedicated to working alongside my peers and public safety officials to keep our children safe against predators.”
Delp called the legislation “a significant advancement toward justice” and argued it could challenge existing U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states cannot impose the death penalty for the rape of a child when the victim does not die and the crime was not intended to result in death. The court ruled the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Delp said he believes the issue deserves renewed debate.
“It was a very closely decided issue,” Delp said. “It was a 5-4 vote in a court that has dramatically changed in a country that has dramatically changed since 2008.”
Not everyone agrees that harsher penalties are the answer.
Defense attorney and former Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Brad Banks said expanding death penalty eligibility to child molestation cases could overwhelm an already strained criminal justice system.
“When you talk about child molestations, rape charges, things of that nature, they happen much more frequently than a murder case,” Banks said. “To add another crime with the death penalty, I just don’t think the system is set up to handle it.”
As of publication, there are currently only four pending death penalty cases awaiting trial, according to the Indiana Public Defender Council. Two of them are for men accused of killing police officers.
Banks said death penalty cases are a gamble for prosecutors.
“By the very nature of a death penalty case, it’s almost given a higher burden of proof by jurors,” he said. “Jurors look at death penalty cases differently than they do any other case because they feel like they’re potentially taking the life from somebody, and so that puts a really high burden on the state.”
According to a 2025 analysis from Indiana’s Legislative Services Agency, pursuing a death penalty case costs roughly eight times more than seeking life without parole.
For now, Delp said his office will seek the highest sentence possible in child sex crime cases.
“I believe that strong sentences send deterrent messages to people,” Delp said “In this particular case, and on these types of crimes, make no mistake: the Hendricks County Prosecutor’s Office will try to put you in prison for as long as we possibly can for these types of crimes.”
