Ex-school resource officer sentenced for sending obscene messages to student

A former school resource officer who sent sexual messages and a sexually graphic photo to a teenage student while working at East Liverpool City Schools, was sentenced Thursday to 90 days in jail, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced.

“A protector who morphs into a predator has no business being around young impressionable children,” Yost said. “This man dishonored the badge and forfeited the right to serve in such a position of authority.”

The sentencing of Shawn Long, 51, of East Liverpool, follows his Dec. 19 guilty plea to disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, a fifth-degree felony. The sentence includes 90 days in jail with credit for one day served, two years of probation, restitution of $1,000 for the victim and 250 hours of community service. The conviction bars him from working as a police officer in Ohio.

Evidence showed that Long messaged the 17-year-old girl multiple times on Facebook in 2020, sending her a photo of his genitals and expressing his desire to have sex with her. At the time, Long worked as a school resource officer at the high school in East Liverpool attended by the girl.

The East Liverpool Police Department placed Long on administrative leave in April 2020, and he resigned from the department in March 2021.

The attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation led the investigation, and attorneys with Yost’s Special Prosecutions Section prosecuted the case in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.