Minnesota Officer Charged With Sexually Touching Students

COTTAGE GROVE (AP) -- Prosecutors have charged a Minnesota police officer with sexually touching female students while hugging them at a suburban high school where he was a school resource officer.

Forty-year-old Adam Pelton of River Falls, Wisconsin, was charged Monday with three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of fourth-degree sexual conduct.

Pelton is accused of initiating hugs with seven female students and touching their buttocks over their clothing while he was a school resource officer for Park High School in Cottage Grove, Minnesota.

Pelton denied to investigators touching any student's buttocks. Pelton is a Cottage Grove police officer and has been on administrative leave since the investigation began in October.