CEDAR CITY – A former Cedar Middle School counselor was arrested Friday on charges of sexual battery and accessing pornographic material while on school grounds.

At approximately 12:30 p.m., Cedar City Police investigators arrested 39-year-old Samuel Naim El-Halta, of Enoch, who was employed as a counselor for the Iron County School District at the time the alleged incidents occurred.

The Police Department has been investigating El-Halta since November 2014, after receiving reports that he had been accessing pornography on school grounds while employed by the Iron County School District. El-Halta has also been charged with committing sexual battery on school grounds against seven different women.

During the course of the investigation, officers obtained a search warrant and seized the computer El-Halta used during his school district employment. Computer forensics personnel found at least 10 pornographic images on the computer that were directly linked to personal accounts belonging to El-Halta, according to a press release from the Cedar City Police Department.

Seven women were also identified during the investigation as having been inappropriately touched by El-Halta while on school grounds.

“The inappropriate touching was generally described as touching of breasts or buttocks over their clothing,” the press release said. “These incidents occurred over the course of several months during El-Halta’s routine encounters with the victims.”

Though the inappropriate touching incidents occurred on school grounds, none of the victims were students, according to the press release.

“There was no evidence presented that suggests any students were ever victimized by El-Halta,” the release said.

El-Halta’s employment with the school district was terminated in the fall of 2014 after the pornography allegations came to light.

El-Halta was booked into the Iron County Jail Friday on 10 class A misdemeanor charges of accessing pornography or indecent material while on school property and seven class A misdemeanor charges of sexual battery.

His bail currently stands at $66,300, according to bookings information.

Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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