The C&P requested two years of EVSC PD arrest reports. The EVSC sent four records.

EVANSVILLE — Four arrests from a time frame spanning two years.

That's what the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. provided six months after the Courier & Press filed a records request for two years' worth of arrest records by its in-house law enforcement wing, the EVSC Police Department.

None of the people arrested in the four cases were EVSC students.

Instead, they included a former tutor arrested on multiple sex crimes; a teenager from another district caught pretending to be a student at Central High School; a man arrested for picking up his daughter while having an "AR-15-style rifle" strapped across his chest; and social media photos of a student with a gun that sparked intimidation and marijuana charges against a different person at his home.

They all took place between August 2021 and April 2023.

On April 11, the Courier & Press requested “all incident reports and arrest reports” filed by EVSC Police between 2021 and 2023. When Christina Greathouse, assistant to the EVSC's chief of staff, emailed a response to the request Monday afternoon, she said she'd provided all "non-protected records."

The Courier & Press asked her to explain what records are "protected." She replied, "records which are declared confidential by state law."

According to Indiana code, any denial of public records must include an explanation for doing so, including the statute that allows the refusal and the name and title of the official responsible for the denial.

The Courier & Press requested that information Monday evening, and in a follow-up message Tuesday morning, but hadn't received a response before publication.

Asked about the exchange after Monday night's school board meeting, EVSC spokesman Jason Woebkenberg said the school corporation had adequately answered questions about its arrest records.

"I think that was clarified," Woebkenberg said. "(Greathouse) exactly defined it.”

EVSC Superintendent David Smith agreed.

"I think there’s confidentiality laws that we have to abide by," Smith said.

"It was to protect student privacy," Woebkenberg added.

The Courier & Press never asked for the names of any arrested student – just the reports from each arrest. Both the Evansville Police Department and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office routinely redact the names of juveniles involved in crimes.

The EVSC Police Department oversees security for all 39 of the corporation's schools, its website reads. It formed in 2013 and has eight officers, not including Chief Tim Alford.

Child exploitation case that led to federal lawsuit

The EVSC sent along four partially redacted incident reports.

Like other area law enforcement, they include sparse descriptions of the alleged offenses, including the arresting officer, the name of the suspect, and one or two lines of narrative. To flesh them out, the Courier & Press obtained probable cause affidavits for each case.

The most serious arrest was that of Jacob Carl Butler in December 2021.

A former UE student and math tutor at Vogel Elementary for EVSC's after-school programs, Butler ultimately pleaded guilty to six counts of child exploitation, six counts of voyeurism, one count of possession of child pornography and one count of public voyeurism after he was accused of taking pictures of children in the school restroom.

According to the probable cause affidavit, he also admitted to touching at least one child. The victims were all in third grade or younger.

He's serving a 17-year sentence at New Castle Correctional Facility and won't be eligible for release until 2030 at the earliest.

The case has since spawned a federal lawsuit against both the EVSC and UE, filed by the parents of Butler's victims.

The complaint alleges that UE and the EVSC failed to provide a safe educational environment for the children. It also argues that the parents are eligible for relief under Masha's Law, legislation passed in 2006 that, under certain circumstances, allows child victims to recover at least $150,000 per any pornographic photo taken of them, as well as the cost of attorney fees and litigation.

The case is ongoing. A spokesman for UE said the university expelled Butler as soon as it learned about the allegations and "cooperated fully" with law enforcement.

Pat Shoulders, an attorney for the EVSC, told the Courier & Press in June that the school corporation "immediately investigated, notified parents, and alerted the authorities."

He said Butler was chosen for the program by UE, and that EVSC shouldn't be named in the lawsuit.

Two gun-related arrests

On Aug. 30, 2021, Evansville Central Dispatch received a call that a white male with a rifle was sitting atop a Harley Davidson motorcycle in the parking lot of McGary Middle School.

When officers arrived, they found a man "with an AR-15-style rifle strapped across the front of his chest."

The man later told police he had come to the school to pick up his daughter. He cooperated with authorities and "denied having any malicious intent" with the gun, the probable cause affidavit states.

The man ultimately pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm on school property, a Level 6 felony. If he completes probation, court records state, he can have the conviction reduced to a misdemeanor.

In another firearm case from March 2022, a school official told EVSC PD that a Harrison High School student had been posting videos and photos of himself "holding firearms" on social media.

EVSC PD contacted EPD and obtained a search warrant for the student's home. While there, they reportedly discovered a bag of marijuana belonging to another person at the residence.

That person was eventually charged with possession, as well as felony intimidation after reportedly threatening to hit an EPD detective in the head with a glass candle, the affidavit states. According to court records, he completed probation earlier this year and had the felony reduced to a misdemeanor.

'A dare by some of his friends'

The most recent case was allegedly a prank gone wrong.

On April 10, 2023 – a day before the Courier & Press delivered its records request – an EVSC police officer was working at Central High School when he was "notified about an adult male, who was not a student at the school, sitting in a classroom while class was in session," the case's affidavit reads.

A teacher had noticed the 19-year-old man during first period and didn't recognize him. When she confronted him, he gave her a fake name and claimed he was a new student who hadn't gotten his schedule yet.

Thinking the man was telling the truth, the teacher sent him to the attendance office alongside an actual student. On the way there, the man reportedly came clean, telling the student he wasn't the new kid at school, but a "student at Castle High School (who) was inside Central ... on a dare by some of his friends," the affidavit states.

He then asked "for the location of the nearest exit."

"Surveillance footage showed Payne walking throughout the school and finally leaving the school via the side north door, where he sprinted across the practice football field and into a nearby neighborhood."

The student later reported the man to school officials, and he was arrested at his home in Newburgh. He had allegedly entered Central with a surgical mask strapped across his face in an effort to conceal his identity.

The man was charged with trespassing and sent into a diversion program. If he completes it, court records state, the charge will be dismissed.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: How many arrests have been made by the EVSC Police Department?