Alva Review-Courier -

A Burlington High School student is facing three felony charges in Alfalfa County.

On March 26, Tyler Dakota Cass, 18, of Amorita was charged with indecent exposure, a felony punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years or a fine up to $20,000, or both.

Two more felony charges were filed on March 28: unlawful use of computer and intimidation of witness. The first is punishable by up to 10 years in the state penitentiary or a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $100,000 or by both such fine and imprisonment. The intimidation charge is punishable by up to 10 years in the state penitentiary.

According to court records, Alfalfa County Deputy TJ Rockenbach received information from Sheriff Rick Wallace on Dec. 20, 2017, about a male student exposing himself to a female student multiple times on school property at Burlington. The incidents were alleged to have occurred between August 2017 and October 2017. The male student was identified as Tyler Cass, a senior at the school. The female student is also a senior.

Rockenbach met with the superintendent and principal of the school. Superintendent Elliott gave him statements taken by Principal Pruett from students who had witnessed these incidents and also from the victim. Pruett also gave Rockenbach a report of other incidents involving Cass they said had been dealt with at the school since August 2017. They advised that Cass was suspended from school until further notice.

Deputy Rockenbach then interviewed the female victim accompanied by her parents at the sheriff’s office. The victim stated Cass had exposed himself to her on at least 11 occasions while at school. She said he sent a video via cellphone of himself exposing himself. She said he sent a recent video of himself dancing naked in the bathroom of one of the school buildings. She also said there had been two occasions when Cass pinched her and slapped her on the butt. In the statements provided to Pruett, it was alleged that Cass had exposed himself to the victim at least six times in front of other students. The school also provided statements from two other students on incidents when they alleged Cass exposed himself to the victim.

After the indecent exposure charge was filed, on March 27 the victim contacted the sheriff’s office to report that Cass had sent her a threatening text message. She sent a screenshot of the message to Sheriff Wallace. The message read “Just wait you’ll regret everything you told the popo just wait I’ll have someone by your house.”

The victim said she was in fear for her life, and her father also stated that he was taking the threats seriously enough to keep a loaded gun at the house.

According to the affidavit, the victim arrived at the sheriff’s office that night to give her statement. Sheriff Wallace watched as the girl continued the text conversation with Cass. In the conversation, Cass blamed her for getting him in trouble and stated he was going to prison for 10 years.

With cooperation from a cellphone provider, they were able to locate Cass’s phone near Amorita and shortly after at his parents’ home in Amorita. When Deputy Loren Nusser approached the house, he was met by Cass’s mother who stated he was on private property and needed to leave. He told her he had a warrant for her son, and she needed to send him out. She said they had talked to their lawyer and were going to take care of the warrant in the morning.

When Mrs. Cass opened the door of the house, Nusser saw Tyler Cass. He told him to get a shirt and that he was under arrest. According to the affidavit, at this point Cass’s father got within inches of Nusser’s face telling him, “This is private property. Get the h--- off.” Nusser told him to back off and followed Cass into the house. The parents followed Nusser into the house yelling that he couldn’t take their son. Nusser was able to handcuff Cass and took him to the Alfalfa County Jail for booking.