A Brooklet man was jailed without bond Wednesday after his 11-year-old stepdaughter told a school resource officer that the man had been molesting her for years.

Gerardo Velez-Sanchez, 31, of Cody Lane in Brooklet, is charged with rape, aggravated child molestation, incest and enticing a child for indecent purposes, said Bulloch County Sheriff Noel Brown.

The sixth-grade girl confided in sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Thompson, a school resource officer, that “her stepfather had been sexually molesting her over the past few years,” Brown said. “Deputy Thompson was able to make the determination that these incidents did take place in Bulloch County, and … warrants (were) issued accordingly.”

Deputies placed Velez-Sanchez under arrest and no bond was set, but the case remains under investigation, Brown said. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Thompson at (912) 764-8888.

After a proposal in May by former Sheriff Lynn Anderson and former Chief Deputy Jared Akins, the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners approved the assignment of two deputies as school resource officers to be shared between five schools, all of which are outside city limits.

One deputy is assigned to Southeast Bulloch Middle and High schools, which share a campus. The second is assigned to Langston Chapel Elementary and Middle schools, which also share a campus, and also spends time at William James Middle School.

Statesboro High School has its own school resource officer from the Statesboro Police Department, funded by the city of Statesboro and the Bulloch County Board of Education.

The only other Bulloch schools inside any city limits are Portal Elementary and Middle/High schools. At this time, there has been no partnership between the city of Portal and the Board of Education to establish school resource officers for those schools.

Velez-Sanchez’s arrest is evidence of the value of these officers, Brown said.

“The benefit of having school resource officers is extremely important in developing trustworthy and open communication between the Sheriff’s Office, the administration, teachers and especially the children of our county,” he said.

Brown also commended Thompson on his “efforts and work on this case in order to further protect the victim.”

Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.