Child sex abuse charges multiply against Gulfport father accused of molesting 5-year-old
A 28-year-old Gulfport man, Nolan Ryan Wallace, had been released recently from jail on three charges of molesting a 10-year-old girl when law enforcement officers picked him up again.
This time, Wallace is accused of molesting a little girl twice — once when she was four or five years old and a second time when she was six. Wallace was 23 years old when he sexually penetrated the younger girl twice in 2012, court records say. The Gulfport Police Department arrested him last week on the two additional charges.
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office made the first arrest in mid-January and is investigating the charges involving the 10-year-old. Wallace is accused of molesting her between July 2019 and January 2020.
Wallace bonded out of jail on the first set of charges January 15, the same day he was arrested. After his arrest, the second case came to light when the girl molested in 2012 spoke up, court records say.
The jail docket shows he was arrested the second time on Jan. 30 and is still behind bars.
Justice Court Judge Albert Fountain has set Wallace’s bond at $200,000.
At the time of his arrests, Wallace was involved in a custody dispute with the mother of one of his children, a boy born in 2014 who is not involved in either criminal case. The mother filed an emergency petition for sole custody of her son after Wallace’s first arrest, saying she feared for their child’s safety.
Judge Jennifer Schloegel granted the request, giving the mother temporary physical and legal custody of their child until a hearing can be held March 11. Schloegel also mandated that Wallace stay away from the boy.
Two stepchildren also have been removed from his home, the judge’s order says. Three children that belong to Wallace and his current wife also could be removed if she remains in the home, the order says.
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
