Roger Mollaun Sentenced for Brutal Attack on 69-Year-Old Victim

He received a maximum sentence.

Roger Mollaun. Photo provided.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - Roger Mollaun has been sentenced to the maximum term of 16 years in the Indiana Department of Correction after pleading guilty to Aggravated Battery (Level 3 Felony). 

The sentence was handed down on September 1 following an extensive sentencing hearing and review of evidence, testimony, victim and character statements, and sentencing memoranda submitted by the parties. 

The case arose from a deliberate and sustained attack on Bradley Spaulding, who was 69 years old at the time. According to the Court's sentencing order, Mollaun became angry after learning that Spaulding, his former brother-in-law and close friend of approximately 45 years, had gone out with a woman Mollaun had been seeing for only a few weeks.

During the days leading up to the attack, Mollaun left a voicemail announcing his intention to find and beat Spaulding and later sent a text message stating that he would continue looking for Spaulding and that, when he found him, "it would not be good."

On July 28, 2025, Mollaun located Spaulding inside a small residence while Spaulding was on his hands and knees working on a television. Mollaun approached him from behind, struck him in the head, pinned him to the floor, and repeatedly punched him in the head, as many as 20 times by Mollaun's own account, until Spaulding lost consciousness. Mollaun then kicked or stomped Spaulding's leg, breaking it above the ankle.

When Spaulding attempted to leave, Mollaun returned toward the residence, told Spaulding he was not flnished with him, and threatened to kill him. Mollaun retreatedonly after hearing approaching sirens.

Spaulding suffered a subdural hematoma and required two emergency brain surgeries.

His injuries were so severe that his physicians and family initially believed he might not survive.

ln recorded jail calls made shortly after the attack, Mollaun bragged about knocking Spaulding unconscious, swelling both of his eyes shut, and repeatedly striking him. The Court found that those statements demonstrated that the attack was not a momentary loss of control, but a deliberate and repeated beating.

"This was a planned, vicious attack on an older victim who was taken completely bysurprise and nearly lost his life," Prosecutor Lynn Deddens said. "Mr. Mollaun had days to walk away. lnstead, he searched for the victim, attacked him from behind, continued beating him after he lost consciousness, broke his leg, and then threatened to kill him. His own recorded words afterward showed no remorse, but pride in the damage he had inflicted."

The Court identified several significant aggravating circumstances, including the deliberate and premeditated nature of the attack, Spaulding's age, Mollaun's extensive criminal history, and the fact that Mollaun committed the offense while on probation. Mollaun's criminal history stretches back approximately 40 years and includes nine prior misdemeanor convictions, eight prior felony convictions, nine probation violations, multiple failed community-supervision placements, and two prior habitual-offender or habitual-substance-offender findings. The Court concluded that repeated grants of probation, work release, home detention, furlough, treatment, and other forms of leniency had failed to deter him.

The Court described the harm inflicted upon Spaulding as coming "as close to a homicide as the law allows without becoming one" and determined that anything less than a substantially enhanced sentence would depreciate the seriousness of the crime.

ln addition to the 16-year sentence, Mollaun was ordered to pay $4,130.57 in restitution to Spaulding and was prohibited from having any direct or indirect contact with Spaulding or Patricia Abbott.