Logan Nighswonger
A registered sex offender is accused of sneaking into an elementary school and trying to sexually assault a young girl. Logan Allen Nighswonger, 32, was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center, according to cops in Riverside, California.
Authorities said they got a call from the school at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Friday. It was regarding a man jumping the school fence and entering the girls’ restroom, they said. A campus supervisor saw this man, later identified as Nighswonger, exit the restroom. There was a girl crying inside, according to cops.
The supervisor followed Nighswonger, who jumped other fences to the parking lot and get inside a vehicle, police said. The supervisor managed to give a detailed description of the vehicle, including its license plate number, officers said.
According to police, investigators figured out Nighswonger’s whereabouts and tracked down the vehicle. It was registered to a business in the city of Placentia, they said. The city is a half-hour drive southwest of Riverside.
Nighswonger was found, detained and taken to jail, police said.
“We are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their swift action in apprehending and removing this threat to our society,” said Alvord Unified School District Superintendent Allan Mucerino. “Children should never experience a situation such as this and it deeply saddens me that this incident occurred. It gives us pause and reinforces our commitment to school safety in recognition that even when we follow safety best practices and do everything in our power to secure our campuses there continues to be threats, which we will continue to work tirelessly to mitigate.”
“The safety of our students and staff at school will always remain amongst our top priorities,” said Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez. “When that safety is put at risk, we will do everything within the law to quickly find and arrest the person responsible as we did yesterday.”
Nighswonger remains locked up as of Sunday morning for attempted sex acts with a child under the age of 10 and being a registered sex offender on school grounds, records show. He is being held without bail. A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Nighswonger, a Riverside resident, landed on the California sex offender registry because of a 2016 conviction for annoying or molesting a child under 18 years of age, online records show.
Logan Nighswonger’s mugshot on the California sex offender registry.
[Booking photo via Riverside Police Department]
