The Nebraska middle school student’s mother was frantic. Her 13-year-old daughter boarded a school bus that October morning in 2013, but the school reported her absent. Soon thereafter, the mother found the girl’s tablet, which revealed an online relationship with an adult man.
School Resource Officer (SRO) Ronnie Beasley of the Omaha Police Department immediately began investigating the situation as a possible child abduction. The student’s administrator, Julie Gall, joined in the investigation and uncovered critical information while examining the tablet the mother brought to the school. The girl had used the dating and social media app, Waplog and fortunately had not logged out of the app. The app’s profile of the man with whom the girl had corresponded included a picture in which he wore a T-shirt printed with the logo and phone number of a taxi company in Florida.
Beasley called the number on the shirt. A supervisor identified the man as 52-year-old Terry Turner and confirmed that Turner was an employee. The supervisor told Beasley that Turner had taken time off to drive to Nebraska and pick up his niece. The taxi company supervisor provided Beasley a complete description of the car Turner drove, including the license plate number. The taxi company supervisor also provided Beasley with Turner’s cell phone number.
Beasley called the cell phone and was surprised to hear Turner answer. Turner at first denied that he had the girl but by the end of the conversation, Turner admitted the girl was with him.
Meanwhile, Assistant Principal Gall was on the phone with AT&T, hoping to locate the student’s cell phone. With authorization from the mother, AT&T provided a location within minutes. The girl’s phone was in a corn field in Missouri.
Shortly thereafter, the girl called the school and said she wanted to talk to Beasley and no one else. It turned out that the SRO was the only adult in the school with whom she had a trusting relationship. The girl told Beasley she was standing in a corn field and that she was OK. Beasley could tell, however, that she was nervous.
Beasley phoned the Missouri State Highway Patrol, explained the situation and provided all the information he had, including the suspect’s name, vehicle description and the location he had received from AT&T. Turner and the girl were still in the same place when Missouri officers arrived. Police returned the girl safely to her family. Following this tragic incident, the family began home schooling her.
A Missouri prosecutor charged Turner with statutory rape, statutory sodomy and child kidnapping. A Nebraska prosecutor charged him with child enticement, sexual assault using a communication device and visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct. He was convicted and was sentenced to 25 years. Turner is serving his sentence at a Missouri prison.
Gall told NASRO that she’s convinced the investigation and the girl’s recovery would not have gone as smoothly if her school didn’t have an SRO. “I don’t think she would have called the school if she didn’t know she could talk to Officer Beasley,” Gall said. Beasley added that an outside patrol officer might not have been as open to the help that Gall was able to provide. Gall added that the incident was a perfect example of schools and police working together. “Access to police is not the same as having someone part of your team,” she explained.
Do you have a similar SRO success story? If so, contact NASRO PIO Jay Farlow, [email protected].