A Shelby County Sheriffs deputy who reported Thursday that he made inappropriate comments to a female student at Sidney High School has been reassigned and suspended without pay.
Deputy Anthony Cipollone worked as a school resource officer at the high school and has been with the sheriff’s office since July 2015, according to a release from Chief Deputy James Frye.
An internal investigation revealed that a girl walked into an office at the school on April 20 and showed her tan line by pulling down her waist line and showing it to a woman faculty member while Cipollone was in the office. The next day, on April 21, Cipollone saw the student in the gym and asked if he could speak with her.
“They had a conversation and Deputy Cipollone made the following comment: what you did was inappropriate in the office and it made me have inappropriate thoughts,” the release stated.
Cipollone, who was in his second year as SRO at the high school, has been reassigned to another sheriff’s office position. Another deputy will fill the remainder of the school year, which ends May 25. Cipollone will serve a seven-day unpaid suspension for his comments to the student and will be required to undergo in-service training on appropriate communication with students. He also will be issued a letter of reprimand from Superintendent John Scheu of the Sidney City Schools, which will be placed in his personnel file, according to the sheriff’s office.
The punishment was jointly decided by Sheriff John Lenhart and Scheu.
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