SPRINGDALE (KFSM) — A Springdale School District employee was fired after he was arrested Friday (April 22) on suspicion of rape and sexual indecency with child.
Dalton Ray Mize, 19, was arrested after a school resource officer at Sonora Middle School was told Mize was dating a 12-year-old student, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. The officer was told the two had been on campus kissing, which was confirmed by a video showing Mize using his school district key to the enter the school to meet the victim, the affidavit states.
Mize was an hourly employee who mowed the lawn, according to Springdale School District spokesman Rick Schaeffer.
During interviews with officers, the student disclosed she had been dating Mize since about the middle of March and he had repeatedly asked her to engage in sex, according to the affidavit.
When officers interviewed Mize he told them the victim had a crush on him and wouldn’t leave him alone, but he admitted to kissing the victim, the affidavit states.
After searching Mize’s cell phone, officers found 2,327 messages between Mize and the student in which they discussed sexual contact, according to the affidavit. During another interview with Mize, officers found out Mize had touched the victim in a sexual manner and had the victim touch him in a sexual manner in several locations in Benton County near the girl’s home, the affidavit states.
Mize is being held at the Benton County Jail on $100,000 cash bond and his next court date has been scheduled for June 6, according to jail records.
