MADISON, Ala. – A Cullman man faces three charges after a middle school staff member’s report led police to investigate allegations that he sexually assaulted a child, Madison Police said.
Alexander Riley Schultz, 23, is charged with one count each of second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act.
Madison County jail records show Schultz was booked Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 6:05 p.m. The records list bonds totaling $120,000: $30,000 each on the rape and sodomy charges and $60,000 on the traveling charge.
During a Thursday, Nov. 5, press conference, Madison Police Detective Teresa Taylor-Duncan said school resource officers received a report from a middle school staff member who noticed an unrelated adult transporting a student to and from school.
The student subsequently reported being sexually assaulted by the man, who had traveled from Cullman to Madison on multiple occasions, Taylor-Duncan said. At the time of the initial report, the child knew him only by a nickname and could not provide further identifying information, she said.
Taylor-Duncan said Schultz and the child met through Snapchat and made arrangements for transportation. The child was taken to Cullman County on at least one occasion, she said. She also said Cullman County authorities were involved in the investigation but did not identify a specific agency.
School security footage provided investigators with a vehicle description and part of its license plate number, Taylor-Duncan said.
“In this situation, we had a make, model, color and the first two digits of the tag number,” Taylor-Duncan said. “That was all we could make out from the school security video.”
Investigators used that information to search the Flock camera system, then checked possible vehicle matches against registration information through other databases, she said.
“Detectives input the data into the Flock system and were able to identify the suspect within minutes,” Taylor-Duncan said.
After identifying Schultz and obtaining warrants, investigators entered the vehicle’s complete license plate number into the system, Taylor-Duncan said.
Information about the vehicle’s location and direction of travel helped patrol officers intercept him less than a block from the child’s home, minutes before a school bus arrived to drop off students, she said.
Taylor-Duncan said the investigation remains ongoing.
Schultz is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
