School district employee charged with molesting young girl

St. Johns County School Board plumber suspended amid investigation

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A St. Johns County School District maintenance worker has been accused of repeatedly molesting a young girl in St. Augustine over the course of about three years.

Zachary Bass, 34, is employed as a plumber with the St. Johns County School Board, according to a Sheriff's Office incident report. He is not assigned to a particular school but has done maintenance work at multiple campuses.

Bass is charged with forcibly molesting and fondling a child under 12 years old. Based on the incident report, Bass appears to know the child as a family friend or relative, not as a student.

“None of the information we currently have leads anywhere to the school system. This all occurred at private residences at several locations in St. Johns County,” Sheriff's Office spokesman Chuck Mulligan said. "No signs of any activity with any other children. This seems to be isolated to one particular child."

Most of the report is blacked out to protect the child victim, but deputies said the little girl told an adult that Bass had been “touching her for over a year, maybe longer.” She graphically described what he did to her and said Bass had also forced her to touch his privates.

The report said the attacks happened many times. Mulligan said the exploitation and molestation reportedly took place over the course of possibly three years.

A special victims unit detective and the Department of Children and Families were called in to investigate.

Bass, who was suspended with pay Wednesday, pending the outcome of an internal investigation, was released from jail Saturday on $100,000 bond. The district ordered Bass not to be on any school district property during his suspension, unless directed otherwise by administrators. He is also not to discuss the suspension with anyone.

The district said more action might be taken against Bass after the criminal investigation concludes.

News4Jax went to several homes connected to Bass and attempted to call him for comment, but he has not responded.


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