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Posted Mar 15, 2017, 10:17 am

Dylan Smith TucsonSentinel.com

A pair of Tucson Unified School District employees were arrested Tuesday for failing to report alleged sexual contact between two students at a middle school, authorities said. A vice principal and counselor didn't tell law enforcement about the incident as required by Arizona law, police said.

Bernadette Rosthenhausler, vice principal at Roberts-Naylor K-8 School, 1701 S. Columbus Blvd., and counselor Linda Archuleta, were taken into custody Tuesday following an investigation that began March 1, Tucson Police Department officials said.

Rosthenhausler, aged 45, and Archuleta, 60, were arrested for Failure to Report Involving a Reportable Offense - Duty to Report, a class 6 felony.

Two weeks prior, Tucson police learned from a parent about "possible inappropriate sexual contact" between a male and female student at the school.

According to police: "the incident took place in a classroom when the teacher stepped outside for a moment. As the teacher was outside, a male student made sexual contact with a female student. The student reported the incident to the teacher. The teacher immediately reported the incident to the vice principal, who then began an internal investigation."

The incident was reported to both Rosthenhausler and Archuleta but never to police nor the Department of Child Safety as required by law, TPD said.

Police did not release details about the alleged incident between the students, including the date it took place or any information about the identities of the juveniles.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 88:CRIME, TPD said.

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