Bail was set at $30,000 Thursday for a Warren County man accused of fondling a vulnerable person.

Joseph Milton Barnett, 55, 149 Warriors Trail, was arrested Wednesday morning by Warren County investigator Stacy Rollison and deputy Jonathon Hearn and charged with gratification of lust by fondling a vulnerable person, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

Pace declined to give further details on the case. During Barnett’s initial appearance in Warren County Justice Court, Judge Jeff Crevitt said Barnett was accused of fondling the breast of a person who met the state’s definition of vulnerable. The age of the victim was not revealed in court.

Under state law, a vulnerable person is anyone, including a child, whose ability to perform the normal activities of daily living is impaired due to a mental, emotional, physical or development disability or dysfunction, brain damage or the infirmities of aging.

Crevitt set bail for Barnett and ordered him to have no contact with the victim in the case.

Barnett appeared in court wearing an orange county jail jumpsuit and had shaggy silver hair and a moustache.

He asked multiple questions during the hearing, and interrupted other suspects’ initial hearings to ask questions about his own case.

Barnett seemed uncertain if he would hire his own attorney. He told Crevitt that he had made one phone call to an attorney but had not received a response.

“I guess I would like to go on and get an appointed attorney,” Barnett said.

During initial appearances, suspects are advised of the formal charges against them and read their rights. They can also ask the court for an attorney if they cannot afford their own attorney, however, appointment are up to the county’s two circuit court judges — M. James Chaney and Isadore Patrick.

Defendants are also allowed to ask for a probable cause hearing, during which a judge determines if there was sufficient evidence for arrest. If a defendant waives their right to a probably cause hearing, they are bound over to the next term of the Warren County grand jury.

Barnett did not ask for a probable cause hearing.

The grand jury meets later this month, but it is unlikely Barnett’s case will be presented due to his arrest happening so close to the start of the court session.