A resource officer employed by the Kansas Public Schools Police Department, 30-year-old Mark A. Scheetz, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated indecent liberties with a child and suspicion of rape.
Formal charges are only pending at this time; Scheetz has not yet been charged, according to Fox4KC.
Spokeswoman for Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools Melissa Fears said the Scheetz will remain on administrative leave pending the out outcome of an investigation, which the district is cooperating with.
The allegations took placed in Norton County between 2013 and 2015 and stem from reports that he sent lewd photos to minors and used electronic devices to solicit sex with minors.
Currently, Scheetz has been employed for one year as a school resource officer for the Kansas City Public Schools Police Department, where he’s assigned to F.L. Schlagle High School.
That’s not where the allegations took place, but parents still said it made them uneasy.
Prior to that, he worked at the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office from 2016 to 2018.
“Of course it’s startling, really just hard to believe. You know we send our kids here to school and we wan them protected,” Ryan Smith, whose son is a freshman at F.L. Schlagle High, said.
“It’s very shocking. I mean because it can happen to anybody’s child and to the people it has happened to with this guy, you never know nowadays. I just think you got to be more involved as parents than normal now even with people who are supposed to be helping your kids,” said Adan Gonzalez, who’s son is also a freshman at F.L. Schlagle High School.
After being arrested, Scheetz was transported to Norton, Kansas, where he’s being held in the Norton County Jail.
The investigation is ongoing.
