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Crime & Safety

Tartan High School Student Arrested on Charges of Sex Crimes

The student was arrested Friday while his home was being searched.

A student was arrested Friday on charges of criminal sexual conduct and soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct.

Matthew L. D. Mueller, 18, of Lakeland, was arrested at school while authorities executed a search warrant at his home.

According to the Washington County District Court complaint, the investigation into Mueller stemmed from a Feb. 19 report that Mueller allegedly exposed himself to a 7-year-old boy.

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The boy’s mother reported that he had walked up to Mueller as he was walking to the mailbox, the complaint says. She lost sight of the boy for a second, and that is when Mueller allegedly exposed himself and asked if the boy wanted to touch him, according to the complaint.

Mueller admitted to talking to the boy, but denied doing anything inappropriate when interviewed by a sheriff’s deputy that day, the complaint says.

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About a week after the alleged incident, a social services worker conducted a CornerHouse interview—a non-traumatic interview protocol for children who allege sexual abuse—with the boy, according to the complaint.

The boy alleged that a similar incident had occurred during a past summer, the complaint says. He also alleged that Mueller had shown him a photo of a naked boy, according to the complaint.

Police searched Mueller’s home on Friday, seizing several cameras, DVDs and a computer, which are now undergoing forensic analysis, according to the complaint.

While the search was going on, a Washington County Sheriff’s Office detective met with Mueller in the office of Tartan's school resource officer, the complaint says. Mueller refused to speak to police without an attorney present, according to the complaint.

Mueller was charged Monday, March 7, with one count of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct, which has a maximum penalty of three years in prison and $5,000 in fines, and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, which has a maximum penalty of one year in prison and $3,000 in fines.

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