A Rogers school bus driver was arrested Friday after police say he sexually assaulted a young girl for four years, starting when she was nine years old, according to the Rogers Police Department.
Stephen Betts, 51, was arrested and booked into the Benton County Jail on Friday afternoon on suspicion of second degree sexual assault. He remains in jail awaiting a bond hearing, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Betts was a school district transportation department employee at the time of his arrest, police said. School district spokeswoman Ashley Siwiec said Betts was a bus driver trainer and transportation clerk.
Rogers police said Betts had inappropriate sexual and physical contact with a local girl from the time she was nine years old until she was 13. She is now 22 years old.
The allegations do not appear to have occurred on school district property or to have involved any Rogers students.
The suspect resigned Friday, and school officials accepted his resignation, Siwiec said. Betts had been a school district employee since 2001, she said.
Betts' arraignment is scheduled for July 14, according to the Sheriff's Office.
A probable cause affidavit filed in Benton County Circuit Court states police earlier this month began investigating Betts after the victim came forward to police.
She said Betts used to perform sex acts on her and force her to perform sexual acts on him. She counted "several" incidents over the four-year time span, the affidavit states. At one point, Betts "told her that he was going to educaste her about her body and about puberty," according to the report.
The victim said she told her mother about the incidents, but she didn't believe her initially. The mom later confronted Betts, and he apologized, the affidavit states.
The report states police conducted a controlled phone call June 5 between Betts and the victim, in which the suspect admitted to the allegations and said he was "mortified" by his actions.
"(The victim) asked Stephen why he did this to her. Stephen replied that at that point in his life, he was so buried in pornography that it was consuming him," the probable cause affidavit states. "Stephen stated that he got caught up in it and could not get out of it and lost his head."