COLUMBUS, Ohio — A school resource officer near Dayton was sentenced to prison Monday after a jury found him guilty of engaging in a sexual relationship with a student, Attorney General Dave Yost’s office announced.
Mason Williams, 26, is a former Preble County sheriff’s deputy who served as a school resource officer at National Trail High School. Yost’s office said he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for sexual battery.
Yost’s Special Prosecutions Section detailed an inappropriate relationship between Williams and an 18-year-old student while he was working at the school as a resource officer.
Williams was originally convicted of three third-degree felonies — two counts of sexual battery and one count of tampering with evidence.
According to Ohio law, those in a position of power are prohibited from engaging in sex with a student enrolled at the school where they work, regardless of that student’s age or whether the two consider it to be consensual.
“You can’t do your job of keeping kids safe at school when you lack the judgment to know that students are off-limits for sexual relationships,” Yost said. “He’s an embarrassment to the badge, and he has rightfully earned the label of sex offender.”
Williams will be required to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life after he is released from prison.
