SHELBY COUNTY, IN — A Greensburg man who was convicted in a series of home invasion sexual assaults in the 1980s was sentenced Friday to a total of 650 years in prison.
Steven Ray Hessler (pictured) was found guilty last month of 19 felony counts stemming from crimes that took place in Shelby County between 1982 and 1985.
He faced a maximum of 50 years on each count, all of which were Class A felonies.
A number of victims testified during the sentencing hearing about the trauma caused by Hessler’s actions.
Several expressed fears that Hessler would return after his attacks and kill them.
After an eight-day trial in Shelby Circuit Court, the 58-year-old Hessler was found guilty on March 3 by a jury on two counts of Rape, six counts of Unlawful Deviate Conduct, seven counts of Burglary Resulting in Bodily Injury, three counts of Criminal Deviate Conduct, and one count of Robbery.
Hessler was arrested at his home on Hendricks Street in Greensburg in August 2020 after investigators linked him to the crimes through DNA evidence.
Shelby County Prosecutor Brad Landwerlen praised the victims who testified, despite being threatened with death during the attacks.
Landwerlen also expressed his satisfaction with the sentence.
“Steven Ray Hessler is one of the most evil, dangerous, sadistic predators that I’ve had the pleasure of prosecuting in my 30-plus year career,” Landwerlen said. “He derived great pleasure from his unnecessarily brutal methods of terrorizing and sexually torturing his victims. I promised the victims early on that my goal would be that he go to prison for the rest of his life, and all involved are very happy that we have achieved that goal.”
