Last week, John Jessup, 49, a Republican Commissioner for Hancock County, in Indiana pleaded guilty to sexual assault just days after he was elected to the county’s council.
The victim told police that Jessup forced her to drink high amounts of alcohol before taking advantage of her in his Las Vegas hotel room and sexually assaulting her.
On Tuesday, the victim came forward to identify herself as Rachel Jessup, the commissioner’s 22-year-old daughter.
Rachel, Jessup’s youngest biological daughter, told the Greenfield Reporter that she was sexually assaulted by her father on the night of Jan. 25 in Las Vegas during what was supposed to be a trip to celebrate her 21st birthday.
“He had taken all of my siblings to Las Vegas when they turned 21, and it was finally my turn to go,” Rachel said. “I never dreamed it would have ended up the way it did.”
She told the outlet that her dad never touched her in an inappropriate manner before the night in Vegas, but looking back she is wondering if he may have planned the night.
“I’m not a big drinker, but as soon as we got there he started drinking and kept telling me I had to keep up with him, and he kept ordering me drinks and making me drink them, getting me drunk,” Rachel said.
She also said her dad didn’t want her to bring her longtime boyfriend on the trip.
“I was kind of excited to go because all my other siblings had gone, and he said his mom, my paternal grandmother, and her husband were going with us, so I thought it would be OK,” Rachel said. “My boyfriend really didn’t want me going without him, but he didn’t want to keep me from seeing Las Vegas, so I went.”
Rachel said she and her dad shared the same room which had separate beds.
“There was a time period where I was passed out and I don’t know what happened,” she told the Greenfield Reporter. “When I woke up, I knew I had been touched in a way I did not want to be touched.”
She boarded the next flight out of Las Vegas and once back in Indiana her boyfriend, mother and stepfather supported her decision to go to the authorities.
Jessup was arrested in Hancock County in June and extradited to Nevada where he has been under House arrest since then. Weeks ago he was one of three Republicans elected to the Hancock County council, receiving over 15,000 votes.
Jessup said he plans to resign from the council as soon as he’s sworn in.
Last Wednesday, Jessup pled guilty to one count of attempted sexual assault, a Class B felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24, 2025.
Rachel says she wants the court to punish Jessup to the fullest extent of the law.
“However horrible this was — and it was horrible — I know it could have been a million times worse if he had assaulted me my whole life, but that breaks my heart for other people,” Rachel said. “I’ll never understand how anyone can do this to any woman, especially their own daughter.”
