A 19-year-old Leesburg High School student was arrested Tuesday after a 14-year-girl claimed the two engaged in sexual relations in a wooded area behind the school.
Brandon Austin Campbell was taken into custody after the school’s resource officer and the dean of discipline met with the girl. She claimed the two were having unprotected sexual intercourse when they were interrupted by other students. She said the act was consensual and both knew the ages of each other, a Lake County Sheriff’s report states.
The resource officer, who is a sheriff’s deputy, made contact with a juvenile witness who said he had heard rumors about Campbell and the 14-year-old going to the woods to have sexual relations. He said he and a friend went to the area behind Building 10 and saw the juvenile girl naked. He added that it appeared both were involved in intercourse, the report says.
The witness also said he interrupted the sexual act and began arguing with Campbell over the issue as he got dressed. He said the girl also got dressed and both left the area.
After a second witness told the same story, the resource officer made contact with Campbell and read him his rights. He initially told the deputy that the two were walking to their classes in Building 10. He later changed his story and said they were “hanging out” behind the facility but didn’t go to class. And he then said they actually were “hanging out” in the wooded area, the report says.
When asked if anything else happened between the two, Campbell said they “initially started kissing” but eventually “got naked and were going to have sex.” He said they both removed their clothes and were interrupted in the middle of the act a short time later, the report says, adding that Campbell admitted that he was talking with his friends about the incident in the high school’s media center.
Campbell, who lives at 2505 N Griffin Drive, was arrested at the school and transported to the Lake County Jail, where he was charged with lewd or lascivious battery. He is being held on $10,000 bond and is due in a Lake County courtroom on May 13 at 8:30 a.m. to answer to the charge.
