A school principal in Barstow has been arrested on suspicion of having a sex with a 17-year-old girl, authorities announced Saturday.
Mark Lesley Hassell, 35, was arrested Friday and booked at the San Bernardino County jail in Barstow, according a statement from that city’s Police Department.
One of the department’s school resource officers on Tuesday received a report that Hassell, principal of the Barstow Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Academy (map), was involved in a sexual relationship with a female high school student, the news release said.
Police Detective Division investigators interviewed the girl, who said she had been in a “consensual” sexual relationship with Hassell “for some time,” authorities said.
Detectives found additional evidence indicating the reported relationship between the principal and teenager, according to the statement. A description of that evidence was not given.
Hasell was booked on charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, sodomy, and oral copulation. He was released on bail Saturday morning, according to a San Bernardino County website.
