PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (WHDH) — A Rhode Island school employee is facing charges after state police say he solicited a child for sex and planned on selling heroin with his girlfriend.
Douglas Marcel, 32, and Kaytlin Rogala, 30, both of Portsmouth, R.I., were arrested on Tuesday following a search of their East Main Road apartment.
Marcel, a classroom behavioral specialist at the Bradley School in Portsmouth, had engaged in a series of conversations with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl from Pennsylvania in December of 2018, Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force members recently learned from the Penn. State Police ICAC Task Force.
Authorities said these conversations quickly became sexual and that Marcel solicited the girl to engage in sexual activity. He also allegedly sent indecent material to her.
The ICAC Task Force obtained an arrest warrant for Marcel and searched his residence on Tuesday, where authorities say they found Marcel and Rogala with suspected heroin and paraphernalia associated with the delivery of heroin.
Several pieces of digital media were also reportedly seized.
Evidence does not show that Marcel’s Bradley School students were victimized, state police said.
Marcel was taken into custody and charged with the indecent solicitation of a child, electronically disseminating indecent material to a minor and possession of heroin with intent to deliver.
He was ordered held without bail in connection to the drug charge and issued a $50,000 surety bail with special bail conditions of restricted internet use and no contact with minors for the child exploitation charges, according to state police.
Rogala was charged with possession of heroin with intent to deliver.
She was ordered held without bail.
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