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A local probation officer has found himself on the other side of the law.

Terry Van Lewis, Butler County juvenile probation officer, surrendered to authorities early Friday morning. According to Attorney General Steve Marshall’s Office, which is overseeing the investigation, its Criminal Trials Division presented evidence to a Butler County grand jury Tuesday, resulting in Lewis’ indictments on Wednesday.

“He turned himself in this morning around 8 o’clock,” Sheriff Danny Bond said Friday afternoon.

The 63-year-old Montgomery resident was then booked into the Butler County Correctional Facility.

“He made bond shortly thereafter,” Bond said.

According to Marshall’s office, Lewis’ bond was set at $300,000. The three indictments included one charge of first-degree rape and two charges of first-degree sexual abuse.

“Specifically, one indictment charges that Lewis engaged in sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex by forcible compulsion, first-degree rape,” a release issued by the AG’s office reads. “The two remaining indictments charge that Lewis subjected another person to sexual contact by forcible compulsion. The victims in the cases were juveniles who were under his supervision at the time. The approximate dates of the alleged offenses range from 1994 until 1999.”

No further information about the investigation or about Lewis’ alleged crimes other than that stated in the indictment may be released at this time.

According to Marshall’s office, if convicted, Lewis faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $60,000 fine for the first-degree rape charge, which is a class A felony. For each charge of first-degree sexual abuse, Lewis faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. First-degree sexual abuse is a class C felony.

For more on this story, see next Wednesday’s edition of The Greenville Advocate.