Whitko Responds To Arrest Of School Resource Officer
Whitko Responds To Arrest Of School Resource Officer
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Whitko Responds To Arrest Of School Resource OfficerWhitko Community School Corp. released a statement Monday afternoon after the Indiana State Police announced a former South Whitley police officer connected to the school had been arrested.
Matthew D. Gilbert, 34, a former South Whitley Police Department officer and school resource officer at Whitko High School, was arrested Friday on a Class B misdemeanor charge of failing to report a rape or sexual assault.
The ISP investigated the incident after a complaint in February alleging Gilbert had received information from a then-16-year-old that she had been the victim of a rape. The information allegedly was provided to Gilbert at the start of the 2017-18 school year, but there was no initial investigation or follow-up.
The case against Gilbert was submitted to the Whitley County Prosecutor’s Office, which levied the charge against him. He was incarcerated in the Whitley County Jail and has since bonded out.
In a news release, Whitko School officials said they were notified of an investigation involving the South Whitley police officer, assigned to the schools as a school resource officer. Working in conjunction with the Whitley County Prosecutor's office and the Town of South Whitley, the officer was immediately removed as the school resource officer.
“Whitko Community Schools remains fully committed to student safety. The investigation was based on activities of the police officer that were outside of his duties as the school resource officer, we completely supported the Town of South Whitley's decision to remove this officer, immediately, from our schools. This removal occurred March 21. This was Whitko’s last involvement with the situation, until like you we heard about the arrest resulting from the investigation,” the release states.
“Whitko believes a successful SRO program is a critical component of school safety. We have our previous resource officer working with us until another school resource officer is in place.”
