Clearwater County, MI — While most parents of school children in the United States will take comfort in knowing a police officer is at their child’s school, all too often, school cops are caught committing the vilest of offenses. As the following case out of Clearwater County illustrates, “protection and safety” are the last things at least one student of Bagley High School received from her school cop.
Neil Dolan, 31, a deputy with the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office, was charged last week with multiple counts of criminal sexual misconduct after a 9th grader came forward and told investigators that this armed man, in his full police uniform, forced them to have sex with him inside the school office. His alleged victim was just 15-years-old at the time of the assault.
According to the Bemidji Pioneer, the assault allegedly occurred the last day of school in early June of 2017, the complaint said. Dolan was a school resource officer at Bagley High School for the past eight years. The complaint does not identify the victim by name or gender, however, it said the victim was in the ninth grade.
Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson said this caught the entire department by surprise as Dolan has been with them for nearly a decade. The sheriff told reporters that there were no signs of misconduct on the part of Dolan, who plays other roles in the Clearwater County community, including emergency manager and football coach, according to the Pioneer.
The Pioneer spoke to a parent of a girl at the high school, Kim Bennett, who said news of Dolan’s arrest was “quite a shock.” She explained to the paper that Dolan was a prominent figure in the town with whom students gather around and high-five.
“I hope they aren’t true,” Bennett said of the allegations, “but if they are he is, unfortunately, going to pay the consequences.”
However, even if Dolan is convicted of the charges, if history is any indicator, he likely won’t face much of a punishment.
Dolan remains free after posting bond, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. He is expected in court on Monday to face the charges. If convicted on both counts of criminal sexual conduct, Dolan could be sentenced to up to 45 years in prison. But this will likely never happen, even if he pleads guilty.
In the land of the free, child sex abusers get far less time in jail than people caught with a plant. Disgusting indeed.
Sadly, there is a pattern of police officers getting caught preying on children, raping women, and committing other unspeakable crimes—and never going to jail.
Earlier this year, we reported on another school cop, officer Matthew Priebe. This officer pleaded no contest to second-degree criminal sexual conduct, attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, misconduct in office and two counts of assault and battery. The charges all stemmed from his role as a school resource officer and the repeated sexual assault of multiple young girls while on the job. In exchange for his no-contest plea, prosecutors dropped the charge of distributing sexually explicit material to a minor.
The charge of distributing sexually explicit material to a minor was dropped in spite of prosecutors having the photos of Priebe’s erect penis that he sent to the children. The Livingston County Prosecutor William Vailliencourt said on Monday that Priebe’s plea deal would guarantee that he would spend no more than 12 months in jail.
Only four months ago, TFTP reported on the case of California Highway Patrol lieutenant Stephen Robert Deck who was given probation for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old in 2006. The officer was caught in an undercover sting operation set up by police to catch pedophiles in the act of trying to have sex with kids. Unlike most of the other 12 defendants in the case, who were sentenced to at least one year in prison, Deck was afforded probation simply because he wore a badge.
Although every other person caught in the same sting received jail time, Deck’s badge apparently granted him special privilege. What’s more, this child predator was allowed to keep his taxpayer-funded medical retirement. And we call this “justice” in the land of the free.
