STEVENSVILLE – A Stevensville school resource officer who resigned in June has been charged with two felony counts of sex crimes involving a young child.
Samuel Steven Fawcett, 37, was booked into the Ravalli County Detention Center on Wednesday. He posted the $50,000 bail and was released shortly after being arrested.
Court documents obtained by MTN News state that the sex crimes did not happen on school grounds or with school children while Fawcett was school resource officer.
The incidents happened when the defendant was 33-to-35 years old with a child that was three-and-four years old at the time of the alleged sexual assaults, according to court documents.
The investigation began on April 2, 2018, when the victim was involved in an incident at school where she was touched inappropriately by a peer-aged female schoolmate.
The child’s mother spoke to the youth about the incident and asked her if anyone else had ever done similar things to her. The youth admitted to her mom that similar incidents had happened twice at the defendant’s home on October 18, 2014 and April 18, 2016.
A forensic interview was conducted at First Step Resource Center in Missoula on April 9. During the course of the interview, the youth disclosed that the defendant had touched her sexually more than one time.
Fawcett was placed on administrative leave on April 10 from the Stevensville School District. He resigned from the Stevensville Police Department on June 3. He’s expected to appear in court on those two felony charges in July in Ravalli county Justice Court.
