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AMERICAN FORK — Utah County sheriff’s detectives are investigating why they say a registered sex offender visited an elementary school for four consecutive days during Halloween without ever signing in at the front office.
Paul Bryant, 51, of Lehi, was arrested Monday for investigation of four counts of being a sex offender in a protected area.
From Oct. 28-31, Bryant visited an undisclosed elementary school in American Fork, according to a police affidavit. Bryant is a friend of a teacher in the school and went to that teacher’s classroom, said Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
Bryant does not have a child who attends the school, Cannon said. Whether the teacher knew Bryant was not allowed to be on school property was not known Tuesday, but Cannon said it was something that Bryant should have known.
“He had no legitimate reason at all to be there. He knew that. His signature is on the Sex Offender Registry agreement,” he said.
Bryant pleaded guilty in 2016 to three counts of attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child, after originally being arrested for investigation of 21 counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child. He was given a suspended prison term, but sentenced to a year in jail followed by probation.
“In July of 2019, Paul was released early from probation but as a lifetime member of the Sex Offender Registry, he was still required to register as a sex offender and adhere to the Sex Offender Registry laws and requirements,” deputies noted in the new arresting affidavit.
As part of the requirements for being a registered sex offender, Bryant is not allowed to enter “protected areas” such as schools.
But over Halloween, Bryant visited an elementary school — an action that was noticed by “several others” who called the sheriff’s office to investigate, Cannon said.
“Interviews with the teacher and school administrators revealed that Paul had been present in the elementary school on at least four different occasions the week of Halloween, Oct. 28–31. All visitors to the school are required to sign the ‘visitor registration log’ located in the main office. Even though Paul visited the main office on all four of his visits, he never signed the visitor registration logbook,” according to the affidavit.
There would be ample opportunities for Paul to interact in an unsupervised manner with the children. This interaction would be further facilitated by the presence of a dog.
–Police affidavit
A picture was presented to detectives showing Bryant in a Halloween costume at the school, the affidavit states. On at least one occasion, he also brought a service dog to the school with him.
“This occurred during the lunch hour when the kids were in the halls and where there would be ample opportunities for Paul to interact in an unsupervised manner with the children. This interaction would be further facilitated by the presence of a dog,” the affidavit states. “It should also be noted that on at least one occasion, Paul brought treats for the children in the teacher’s class. Many of these elementary school children would be around the same approximate age of the male child victim that Paul has previously admitted sexually assaulting.”
Bryant requested his attorney be present when deputies went to his home to interview him, according to the sheriff’s office. After he was arrested and taken to jail, his attorney was able to post bail.
