Man Charged for Molesting Child

A Centralia man is behind bars and charged for molesting a child and selling her drugs near a school.Court documents state 20-year-old Jacob Van Gilder was selling marijuana to a 14-year-old girl at his home in Centralia. He is also accused of having sexual contact with her there.Centralia police say they began to interview Van Gilder after they talked with the 14-year-old victim in the hospital. According to court documents, Van Gilder started confessing to selling drugs at his home just across the street from a school. The drug sales allegedly happened at least four other times within the past month and he allegedly got high with the teenager multiple times.According to police, he was not just selling drugs to the teen. He admitted to having sexual contact with her too, but at this time, he has not been charged for sex crimes yet.The court documents state Van Gilder and the teenager had sexual intercourse at least twice in the past month. Police now fear this girl may not have been the only one that Van Gilder targeted.”We will be talking to additional victims in this case and as part of that, we will certainly talk to folks that may be able to lend something to this investigation,” said Centralia Police Chief Larry Dudgeon.Investigators say throughout the interview, Van Gilder showed no remorse and even stated he “didn’t care how old she was” and people should “understand his point of view.”Officials believe there is at least one other victim.Van Gilder does not have any court dates set yet. He is currently in the Boone County Jail.