A convicted sex offender has been arrested in California after an incident in a girls’ restroom at McAuliffe Elementary School in Riverside.
Logan Nighswonger, 32, was arrested Friday by the Riverside Police Department, the department announced on its Facebook page.
Nighswonger was charged with attempted sex acts with a child under the age of 10 and being a registered sex offender on school grounds.
He is being held without bail, police said.
The incident began when police were told that a man had jumped a fence at the school and entered a girls’ restroom.
32-yr-old Logan Nighswonger of Riverside, a registered sex offender since 2016, has been arrested again after officials at an elementary school say he jumped a fence and ran into a girl’s restroom.
And within moments, a little girl was heard crying.💔https://t.co/uBAd1mvpvL— Gigi Graciette (@GigiGraciette) August 21, 2022
What police identified as a campus supervisor saw a man coming out of the girls’ restroom and heard a girl crying inside.
The campus supervisor saw the man who left the restroom jump fences to get to a vehicle and then drive off.
Do sex offenders ever truly reform?
Yes: 5% (6 Votes)
No: 95% (124 Votes)
Police were given a description of the vehicle by the school employee and were able to track the vehicle to the nearby community of Placentia.
Nighswonger was arrested and brought back to Riverside.
“We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their swift action in apprehending and removing this threat to our society,” Alvord Unified School District Superintendent Allan Mucerino said.
“Children should never experience a situation such as this and it deeply saddens me that this incident occurred. It gives us pause and reinforces our commitment to school safety in recognition that even when we follow safety best practices and do everything in our power to secure our campuses there continues to be threats, which we will continue to work tirelessly to mitigate,” he said.
How? This man had jumped the fence and entered a girls’ bathroom at McAuliffe Elementary School. A campus supervisor observed Nighswonger come out of the restroom and heard a girl crying inside. WTF! Was this school protected? No. https://t.co/vOBdaKGOVx
— Marsh (@marcilef) August 21, 2022
“The safety of our students and staff at school will always remain amongst our top priorities. When that safety is put at risk, we will do everything within the law to quickly find and arrest the person responsible,” Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez said.
Police said the incident is still under investigation.
In 2015, Nighswonger was arrested on suspicion of exposing himself to students at Mark Twain Elementary in Riverside, according to a Riverside police statement on its Facebook page.
In 2016 he was convicted of annoying or molesting a child under 18 years of age, according to the state’s records.
