MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced Thursday that the state Grand Jury for Shelby County indicted a former Memphis City Schools security officer for an alleged sexual offense reported by a high school student last October.

The Grand Jury on Thursday indicted Mario A. Harris, 29, for statutory rape by an authority figure and aggravated statutory rape. 

According to the affidavit filed at time of arrest, Memphis police officers were called to Northside High School on October 16, 2009.  There, a 17-year-old victim advised the officers that she had been in “an intimate relationship” with the defendant since April 2009.  Officers arrested Harris that day. He is out of custody on a $20,000 bond.  An arraignment in criminal court has not yet been scheduled.

The charge of statutory rape by an authority figure is a class C felony, which carries a standard sentence of 3 – 6 years in prison.  The charge of aggravated statutory rape is a class D felony, which carries a standard sentence of 2 – 4 years in prison.