Man found not guilty of alleged crimes at Sherwood school

Update: At a trial in district court January 16th, a judge found Simon Harris not guilty on all charges.


SHERWOOD, AR - Sylvan Hills Elementary School is usually empty and uneventful on the weekends but on September 22nd, it was just the opposite. Sherwood Police say a teacher was here working over the weekend when she encountered a naked man behaving inappropriately on the quiet campus.

"On the way back to her classroom she spotted a man acting inappropriately by himself," said Deb Roush with PCSSD. "At that point, she fled to her classroom, locked the door and called 911."

This week, police tracked down and arrested 45-year-old Simon Harris charging him with public sexual indecency, criminal trespassing and possession of marijuana on school property.

"What we know is this man had never been seen around that campus before, it was on a weekend, he never had any interactions with any students, but we're very proud of the work of our teacher because now he's going to be off the street," said Roush.

But that doesn't ease the mind of one mother who lives close to the school. We spoke to her anonymously.

"There's not a whole lot of children back here but I have four and they are constantly outside playing," she said. "Of course the school did their due diligence and they gave us the information as soon as they were notified but it was still that delay that we're concerned about."

Friday, almost two weeks after the incident, Sylvan Hills Principal Jason Young sent a letter to parents notifying them of what happened and that the man, "does not pose a risk to our campus or community." However, with Harris out on bond, the mother we spoke with plans to stay on high alert.

"We need to be notified as soon as the incident happened because the delay is just giving this individual more time to come back and do the act again," she said.

We tried to reach Harris for comment but have not heard back from him. Harris is scheduled to appear in court on October 30th.

Sherwood police say Harris used to coach peewee football for a league in the Little Rock area and that he is a Level 2 sex offender. However, he is not listed on the registry online. Fox16 will continue to follow this story as it develops.