Talent police, school officials react to alleged sex offender trespass

TALENT, Ore. – Talent police say a student let a man into Talent Middle School. That man allegedly went and hid inside the girl’s locker room for more than an hour.

The sex offender is facing charges, and parents have a lot of questions.

On Monday night, parents at Talent Middle School got an email from the principal saying a man broke into the girl’s locker room that afternoon.

Talent police say that man was 42-year-old Curtis Stevenson, a non-compliant sex offender.

Surveillance video actually shows a student letting Stevenson in through a side door.

Police Chief Tim Doney said Stevenson was posing as a “dad” looking for a school for his “son.” Once inside, police said he made his way to the girl’s locker room.

They don’t know how long he was there but say to their knowledge, no contact was made with students.

Chief Doney said a staff member found Stevenson, who was taken to the office and questioned, then ordered to leave campus.

That afternoon Talent P.D. found him at a ranch outside of Ashland.

Police said Stevenson had a stolen cell phone and clothing from the locker room.

Talent Middle School does have a part-time school resource officer, but they weren’t on campus Monday.

Superintendent Brent Barry said, “With funding issues we would obviously love a full time SRO, but both the school district and the city have budgets to work within.”

Barry said making the school safer starts with students and staff. “Retraining our students, the importance that we are are all allies on keeping everyone safe and really establishing that protocol and reminding our staff and students that all visitors go through the main office.”

But that isn’t enough for some parents who are having a hard time accepting that this happened. “We have to pull the veneer off of our eyes and say, “It can happen here,’” one parent said.

The Phoenix-Talent School District did point out that they are making more security upgrades to the school this summer, including increased security on the perimeter and at the front office.

In the meantime, the school and police are advising all parents to talk to their children about stranger-danger.

© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.

Skip to content