Bill Halle

Former Butler school board member William “Bill” Halle was arrested Wednesday, May 31, and placed in the Butler County Prison, where he was scheduled to be arraigned by the on-call district judge, Butler police said.

Halle, 58, was charged Tuesday with the sexual assault of a 17-year-old he employed and counseled at Net Outreach Center in Butler. Butler police arrested Halle at 100 Center Ave. in Butler, which is the address for Net Outreach Center.

Halle is charged with four felonies, including sexual assault by a volunteer or employee of a nonprofit, corruption of minors, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal solicitation.

“The charges are related to an ongoing investigation into incidents related to a minor. It is alleged that Halle had an intimate relationship with the minor and that Halle sent several text messages which were sexual in nature,” Chief Bob O’Neill of the Butler city police department said Tuesday.

The charges were filed nearly one month after Butler County Common Pleas Judge S. Michael Yeager issued a temporary sexual violence protection order that claimed Halle had a sexual relationship with the minor.

According to charging documents, a ChildLine report was filed May 1 stating Halle was seen being intimate with the 17-year-old while sitting on a street curb near the minor’s home in Butler Township.

The incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. April 27, and Butler Township police responded.

In the May 1 report, it was determined that Halle had employed and counseled the 17-year-old through Net Outreach Center.

Net Outreach is connected to Grace Youth and Family Foundation, which Halle founded in 1994. A May 1 Facebook post by the organization said it would be closed for the summer.

The Center Avenue address is listed as Halle’s home address in police documents.