SEMINOLE - A Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy, responsible for protecting school grounds, was arrested on Wednesday, Jan. 25, for allegedly having sexual relations with a student at Osceola High School in 2001.
Todd J. Pierce, 40, was being held in the Pinellas County Jail on $40,000 bail after he was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation and lewd and lascivious battery, both felonies.
Pierce is accused of allegedly molesting a 15-year-old girl on multiple occasions on Osceola High School grounds between Aug. 22 and Sept. 27, 2001. Detectives further claim that Pierce allegedly sexually assaulted the same girl on Sept. 21, 2001 in the victim's home.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Mac McMullen said allegations against Pierce surfaced in December and that detectives questioned more than 50 students before Pierce was placed on paid administrative leave on Dec. 30. The case was then turned over to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office on Jan. 5.
On Jan. 25, a warrant was issued for Pierce's arrest, McMullen said.
According to the Sheriff's Office records, Pierce became a deputy in 1992 and worked six years in the county jail before being transferred to patrol duties in 1998. Pierce was assigned as school resource officer at Osceola High from 2000 to 2003, before being transferred to Dixie Hollins High School in St. Petersburg where he worked until his suspension in December.
An agency hearing was scheduled for Friday, Jan. 27, to determine if Pierce should remain on paid leave.
McMullen said investigators believe Pierce might have victimized other teenaged girls and are asking anyone with information to contact Sgt. Stefanie Campbell or Detective Randall Jones in the Sheriff's Crimes Against Children unit at 582-6200.
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