FAYETTEVILLE -- Sexual assault charges against a former school administrator should be dismissed because they're based on uncorroborated allegations and because investigators omitted key facts in their presentation of the cases, according to a filing in Washington County Circuit Court.
Mark Oesterle, 47, faces three felony counts of second-degree sexual assault in connection with allegations he touched the breasts of teen girls in 2015, when he was a high school assistant principal in the Springdale School District.
Oesterle’s employment
Positions Mark Oesterle has held in Northwest Arkansas:
2014-2015: Assistant principal at Springdale’s Har-Ber High School
2015-2016: Assistant principal at Springdale’s Tyson School of Innovation
2016-2017: Fayetteville School District director of federal programs and English language learner programs
2017-2019: Fayetteville School District director of secondary education
Source: Staff report
An investigation into Oesterle began about a year ago. Charges were announced in March, at which time Oesterle resigned from his position as executive director of secondary education in the Fayetteville School District.
Oesterle's attorneys, in their 13-page motion to dismiss filed Dec. 11, argued a "reasonable evaluation of the totality of the evidence" showed no probable cause to support the allegations against Oesterle.
A girl identified as "victim No. 1" claimed Oesterle grabbed her breast while hugging her when he took her out to breakfast on her 15th birthday. Her 15th birthday was in April 2017, not April 2015 as investigators reported, according to the motion.
Oesterle's attorneys received a copy of a letter the victim had written in May 2017 -- less than a month after the alleged groping incident -- to Springdale school administrators, in which she stated she and Oesterle had gone to breakfast a few times to "catch up and talk about stress in my life and how we can prevent it," but at no time had she felt "violated or unsafe," according to the motion.
Another girl, identified as "victim No. 2," told the detective about an incident where Oesterle came up from behind her, reached around her to point at a computer screen, then placed his hand on her breast and kept it there for five to 10 seconds, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Oesterle's attorneys point out that in the detective's interview last year with victim No. 2, she said she didn't tell anyone at the school about that incident because she "did not know if it was just in her head," and it was only after talking to victim No. 1 -- a friend of hers -- that it seemed like it wasn't in her head, the motion states.
"Victim No. 3" also told a detective Oesterle gave her a side hug on a few occasions and would grab her breast in the process.
A Jones Center employee told a detective that victim No. 3 had told him she felt uncomfortable with Oesterle, but the girl's discomfort had to do only with text messages she'd received from Oesterle, and she mentioned nothing about any inappropriate physical contact, according to the motion.
Their conversation occurred after the alleged assault on victim No. 3 contained in the detective's probable cause affidavit, according to the motion.
Springdale's Tyson School of Innovation was housed in The Jones Center at the time Oesterle was an assistant principal at the school.
Courtney Cassidy, deputy prosecuting attorney in the Washington County Prosecutor's Office, said a hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for March 13.
"We're in the process of reviewing their motion and we'll be filing a response," Cassidy said.
Oesterle's attorneys also filed a motion on Dec. 11 seeking disclosure of mental health records for victim No. 1. They have issued a subpoena to Springwoods Behavioral Health in Fayetteville for the records, but the hospital requires either the patient's signature or a court order to disclose the records, according to the motion.
The motion states victim No. 1 told investigators in December 2018 about a 2017 suicide attempt she had made due to a bout of depression. Medical and psychological records regarding the mental state of victim No. 1 at or near the time and since the allegations made against Oesterle are material for the preparation of a defense, the motion states.
Sexual assault is an umbrella term that refers to any crime in which the offender subjects the victim to unwanted sexual activity. Second-degree sexual assault in Arkansas includes engaging in sexual contact with another person by forcible compulsion.
If convicted, Oesterle faces five to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 on each count.
NW News on 12/28/2019