Boulder Creek 16 year old charged with molestation
by Ambria Hammel
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DESERT
HILLS – Maricopa County Sheriffs Office deputies arrested
16 year old Grey Swank on two counts of child molestation
stemming from an alleged incident March 6 on the campus
of Desert Mountain School.
Swank
was initially booked into a juvenile detention center, but
on March 9 was transferred to the 4th Avenue Jail after
MCSO requested he be charged as an adult. He made his initial
court appearance that same morning, but his plea is not
yet known.
Swank,
a sophomore at Boulder Creek High School in Anthem, was
signed in as a guest the afternoon of March 6 on the Desert
Mountain campus where his mother is a teacher. As a Deer
Valley Unified School District policy, visitors must sign
in during school hours. School lets out at 3:25 p.m., and
the incident occurred between 3 and 3:30 p.m.
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Swank
and other guests who are family members of school staff usually
go right to the teacher’s classroom or wait in a separate room,
but he somehow became unsupervised, according to Sandi Hicks, spokesperson
for DVUSD. That information may become clear once the MCSO report
is released.
The alleged
victim is a seven year old female student.
“He went
into a girls restroom and backed her into a stall,” said
Lt. Paul Chagolla, spokesperson for MCSO.
According
to Chagolla, Swank fondled the victim’s genitals and attempted
to have her do the same to him. The young girl went home and told
her mother. Hicks said Desert Mountain Principal Ray Manker received
a call late on March 6 from the victim’s parent reporting
the alleged molestation. She said Manker immediately notified
the sheriff’s office as required by law.
Sheriff’s deputies interviewed Swank, the victim and witnesses.
Chagolla said there were other girls in the restroom at the time
of the incident.
DVUSD released
a statement to the press expressing concern for the welfare of
the child. It continued, “Once we receive the information
from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office about the investigation,
we will analyze it to see what future precautions we can take
to further safeguard our children.”
On March 8,
Manker sent a letter home with each student notifying parents
of the incident. It is unknown whether Swank has a prior record.
Chagolla said that Sheriff Joe Arpaio emphasizes the absolute
importance for parents of students at Desert Mountain to speak
to their children. If there are any other victims, they should
call the Sheriff’s Office at (602) 876 1011.
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