A Wolf Creek man and a friend from Chattanooga were indicted last week for raping two young girls.

Robert Mills, 29, formerly of Wolf Creek, was indicted by the Rhea County Grand Jury on Oct. 1 on three counts of rape of a child and one count of aggravated sexual battery. David Palazzolo, 34, of Chattanooga, was indicted on one count of rape of a child and one count of aggravated sexual battery.

Mills was living in a mobile home park in the Wolf Creek area this past summer. Several times during the month of June, Mills allegedly sexually assaulted a 9-year-old girl both at his home and near a popular swimming hole in Wolf Creek. The girl and her parents lived in the same mobile home park at the time, according to Chief Deputy Charles Byrd, who investigates crimes against children for the Rhea County Sheriff's Department.

On July 9, the girl's parents brought her to the sheriff's department to report the assaults. When Byrd and an investigator for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services questioned the girl, they learned that Mills and Palazzolo had raped both the 9-year-old and a 10-year-old girl at Mills' home on one occasion, Byrd said.

Interviews with the 10-year-old confirmed the younger girl's statements, according to Byrd. The two men reportedly enticed the girls into Mills' home by inviting them to play a game of Monopoly.

Byrd said he attempted to interview Mills, but he refused to cooperate and asked for an attorney.

Sheriff's deputies planned to arrest Palazzolo Friday. Mills has left the area and is believed to be living in North Georgia or California, Byrd said.

John Carpenter can be reached at jcarpenter@xtn.net.