WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- Court documents show a former teacher's aide and football assistant coach was charged with statutory rape after a high school student said he tried to have intercourse with her three times.  Each time, the student told a detective, Scott Ballard wasn’t able to perform adequately to complete the act.

 The Pulaski County prosecuting attorney charged the 23-year-old man with three counts of second-degree statutory rape on Thursday.  A judge set Ballard’s bond at $100,000.

 The charges stem from information given to a detective by a 16-year-old girl who, according to the detective’s written statement, at first denied she’d had a relationship with Ballard.  She then changed her story, leading to the charges and Ballard’s arrest.

 “We went to his residence and he was not there and he could not be found at any of his normal locations.  However, one of my detectives goes to the same church he does, and the detective was able to contact him by telephone and arrange a surrender,” said Sheriff J.B. King.

 Lea Ann McFadin (correct spelling according to the state manual), a children’s services worker for the Missouri Children’s Division, notified the sheriff of sexual allegations against Ballard on Jan. 16.  According to the probable cause statement in the case, the girl told a detective that Ballard had sexual contact with her on three occasions, after first saying she only had many telephone conversations with the teacher’s aide.

 The first meeting, the girl said, was last Nov. 20.  She said she met Ballard at a truck stop at the I-44 exit to Dixon, on the east side of St. Robert, and then followed him to his mobile home.

 There, the girl said, Ballard approached her in his boxer shorts and tried to have sex with her. According to the statement, Ballard continued to contact the girl by phone, and also made contact with her at school.

 “There are not allegations that anything happened at the high school,” said King.

 “We're conducting business as usual in the district. We're focusing on what we do, which is teaching students, and we're asking staff not to discuss the situation,” said Waynesville School District Superintendent Judene Blackburn.

 The girl told the detective that similar sexual contact happened a second time when she went to Ballard's home.  The third time, she said, she met Ballard at an apartment complex, he got into her car, and they went to a rural gravel road, parked and again tried unsuccessfully to have intercourse.

 The investigation still ongoing, and so is the gossip “on local Web pages, and some misleading stuff in local papers,” said King.  “Due to the extensive publicity, we're already almost guaranteed a change of venue on this case.”

 The sheriff's department says Ballard’s first court appearance will be March 7.
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Edited news release from sheriff’s department:

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department arrested Scott Ballard, 23, of Dixon on a warrant charging him with three counts of second-degree statutory rape.  Ballard used to work for the Waynesville School District as a teacher’s aide and assistant football coach.

The victim in the case is a student at Waynesville High School.  A judge set Ballard's bond at $100,000.  Due to extensive and misleading information that has appeared in local public forums, additional details of this case will be released in an effort to set the record straight.

The Missouri Division of Family Services referred the case to the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department on Jan. 16. It received a hotline call that alleged improper sexual contact occurred at a location on Missouri 28 in rural Pulaski County.

The Waynesville City Police Department was not notified because the incidents did not occur within the city.  The sole investigating authority for this case is the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department.

The Waynesville School District employs a school resource officer at Waynesville High.  Detectives did not contact the school resource officer for the initial stages of the investigation because none of the incidents were alleged to have occurred on school property.

Once the investigation led to the high school for a series of interviews with other people, the school resource officer was notified.

The Waynesville School District gave detectives full cooperation during the investigation.  This case was hampered by extensive and misleading information that appeared in public venues.

In the case of a serious crime allegation the best course of action is a careful gathering of all the available information by law officers and the careful presentation of those facts to a prosecutor.

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department understands, in a case such as this, everyone wants all of the answers to all of the questions about the case immediately.  That usually cannot and will not happen.

A careful investigation is necessary to protect both the right of the defendant to a fair trial and the right of the prosecution to have the best possible case for presentation to a jury.