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Elementary school volunteer faces sex-abuse charges Jerry Lodge Monday Dec 11, 2017 at 3:24 PM Dec 11, 2017 at 5:44 PM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman A 72-year-old man volunteering at a White City elementary school faces felony sex-abuse charges alleging he had sexual contact with a 5-year-old girl at the school Wednesday, authorities said. Jerry Duane Lodge was taken into custody Friday, two days after the girl told family members about the abuse that court documents allege involved Lodge touching the girl's vagina and the victim touching Lodge's penis. Lodge, who lives in an apartment in the 700 block of Crater Lake Avenue, was arraigned Monday on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and returned to the Jackson County Jail, where he was being held Monday on $1 million bail, court records show. Jackson County sheriff's Sgt. Julie Denney said the two counts stem from an alleged incident while Lodge was volunteering in a classroom at Lower Table Rock Elementary through the Foster Grandparent Program. Lodge also has volunteered in classrooms at McLoughlin Middle School and at Kids Unlimited in Medford during the past year, deputies said. No other allegations of abuse have surfaced involving those facilities, Denney said. The victim's family members notified sheriff's deputies as well as the Medford School District, which notified the state Department of Human Services, Denney said. School district officials also immediately prevented Lodge from having any further contact with children in the schools, Denney said. The school district on Monday sent notices to the parents of all the children in the victim's classroom, deputies said. The notice includes guidelines to help parents broach the topic with their children as well as steps for making a report if their child discloses abuse, deputies said. The school district also intends to offer opportunities for parents to meet with school officials and detectives later this week. The volunteer program is facilitated by the Community Volunteer Network, a division of Pacific Retirement Services, and it includes a criminal background check before volunteers are placed in classrooms, deputies said. Lodge has no previous criminal history in Oregon, state court records show. Lodge was ordered back in court Dec. 18, records show. — Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.