Former Whitko School Resource Officer Arrested

WHITLEY COUNTY – A former South Whitley Police Department officer who also worked as the school resource officer at Whitko High School was arrested Friday on a charge of failing to report a rape.

The Indiana State Police investigation came as a result of a February complaint that alleged that Officer Matthew D. Gilbert, 34, had received information from a then-16-year-old that she had been the victim of a rape.

According to an ISP news release, this information allegedly was provided to Gilbert at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, and no initial investigation or follow-up was completed.





The case was submitted to the Whitley County Prosecutor's Office, which levied a charge of failure to report a rape or sexual assault, a Class B misdemeanor, against Gilbert.

He was incarcerated in the Whitley County Jail and has since bonded out. He is scheduled to appear in court this afternoon, the release states.

Whitko School Corporation issued a news release, which stated, "As has been reported, a former School Resource Officer that served Whitko Schools was arrested for failure to report. Whitko Community Schools was initially notified of an investigation involving the South Whitley Police Officer, assigned to the schools as a school resource officer. Working in conjunction with the Whitley County Prosecutor's office and the Town of South Whitley, the officer was immediately removed as the school resource officer for Whitko Community Schools.

"Whitko Community Schools remains fully committed to student safety. The investigation was based on activities of the police officer that were outside of his duties as the school resource officer, we completely supported the Town of South Whitley's decision to remove this officer, immediately, from our schools. This removal occurred March 21. This was Whitko’s last involvement with the situation, until like you we heard about the arrest resulting from the investigation.

"Whitko believes a successful SRO program is a critical component of school safety. We have our previous resource officer working with us until another school resource officer is in place."