A 24-year-old Surprise man was arrested Tuesday on accusations he had sex with a 16-year-old female student while on campus at Dysart High School in El Mirage.
The man, Nathan Jellicoe, was a …
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A 24-year-old Surprise man was arrested Tuesday on accusations he had sex with a 16-year-old female student while on campus at Dysart High School in El Mirage.
The man, Nathan Jellicoe, was a Dysart High School employee who worked as a security guard and as an assistant football coach at the school, according to a police report.
The police report said Jellicoe had sexual intercourse with the female student during regular school hours at Dysart High on “at least” two occasions in a sixday span on campus — from Thursday, Oct. 7 to Tuesday, Oct. 12., the report said.
According to El Mirage police, Jellicoe told officers he “used his position of authority as a security guard to remove the juvenile victim from her classroom while acting in his official capacity to escort (the girl) to the school auditorium where he engaged in sexual intercourse and oral contact with the juvenile victim,” the report said.
Renee Ryon, spokeswoman for Dysart Unified School District, said school staff first learned of the allegations on Tuesday. The report said school staff were provided “screenshotted text messages (which) indicated there had been sexual conduct” between the man and the student, the report said.
“On October 12, Dysart High School administration was informed about an allegation of unprofessional conduct by a school employee involving a minor student,” Ryon said in a statement via email. “Local police were immediately informed about the allegations. The employee in question was arrested and will not return to any district campus. We appreciate our partners in law enforcement who are conducting the investigation.
“The Dysart Unified School District and Dysart High School take the safety and well-being of our students seriously. We take every precaution to ensure the safety of our students, including requiring mandatory and thorough background checks and fingerprint clearance prior to hiring any individual,” Ryon said.
Ryon said district administration has “recommended the immediate termination of the individual and the matter will be considered by the governing board on Wednesday night. The man was hired as a security guard on [Sept. 2],” she said.
The suspect initially denied any sexual conduct with the girl when first questioned by officers. Shortly after, police said Jellicoe admitted to having sexual intercourse with the student “five times over the past week” after police told him they had evidence of text messages between he and the girl, the report said. The report said the man admitted he communicated with the girl to set up times where and when the sexual encounters would occur, according to the report.
In one text messages, police said the man reassured the girl after she told him she was nervous about meeting him, according to the report.
The report said Jellicoe admitted to having sexual intercourse and oral sexual contact with the student as recent as Tuesday.
Jellicoe is with 10 counts of felony sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation. As part of the investigation, police seized items such as cell phones and clothing as physical evidence.
Jellicoe’s next court date is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19.
Brent Ruffner Lead News Reporter | Daily Independent @AzNewsmedia
Journalism has fascinated Brent Ruffner since junior high school.
Since 2001, his stories have been published in newspapers from the Albuquerque to the Arizona and he has always had a knack for making sure his facts are right and his words are to the point.
Growing up, Brent watched as sports reporters covered his beloved Phoenix Suns, a team he followed since Charles Barkley first arrived in Phoenix via trade in 1992. Sports reporting was a dream back then.
But after gaining some writing experience, Brent found a love for news instead of covering different types of sports. In 2008, he moved to New Mexico and covered crime, schools and city beats all while holding elected officials accountable.
He covered stories that ranged from a DEA drug bust gone bad to an award-winning story on school lunches.
In Arizona, Brent was a freelance writer who covered everything from the importance of citrus in the state to Esteban owning a store in downtown Prescott.
Brent is a 2007 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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