After an initial arrest for suspicion of rape, another alleged victim has come forward to accuse a Hardy man of sexually assaulting her.
According to court documents a young female stated to investigators back in June 2020, that she was abused from age 5 or 6 years old to the time she was 7 or 8,by the accused identified as Leonard F. Pickle, Jr. age 81 of Hardy. The victim stated Pickle touched her inappropriately at a home in Hardy.
In February 2021, the victim described the inside of the home in Hardy and it matched what Fulton County Sheriff Deputies saw when they visited Pickle during the initial investigation.
Additional court documents by different woman stated she met Pickle when she was a child. The victim stated she went to his pop up camper trailer on two different occasions and recalled that at one point, he took her into the camper and made her perform a sexual act on him, then raped her.
The records also state that at a home in Craighead County, Pickle Jr. made her perform sexual acts about 30 times. The victim along with the Sheriff went to the area of Pickle’s home and the victim gave enough details to show she had been there before.
On March 2, a 30 year old woman told investigators she heard about the suspects arrest on the 2 rape charges and she wanted to advise authorities what he had done to her when she was a child.
The woman explained the sexual abuse began back when she was 4 or 5 years old and went on until she was 11 or 12, allegedly totaling up to at least 40 incidents.
The victim says he raped her back in 2000 and she believed he had done this to other victims as well.
On March 2nd 2021, Fulton County District Judge Larry Dean Kissee set a $75,000 cash-only bond for Pickle and issued a no-contact order. Pickle Jr. is currently in the Fulton County Detention Center awaiting trial.