By Jon Hutchinson | Verde Independent
The Yavapai County Grand Jury has indicted Tessa Fanning for three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.
The 21-year-old daughter of the Cottonwood police chief and a standout women’s college softball player is charged with having a sexual relationship with a person under 18 two years ago, in 2011. She is to have a first appearance in Superior Court in early May.
It is not clear from redacted court documents that the two incidents are related, but the mother of a minor asked the Verde Valley Justice Court at that time for an order of protection to keep Fanning from contacting her child at her home or school.
Now, the Yavapai County Grand Jury has indicted Fanning for three Class 6 felonies involving a minor during the same time frame.
According to the earlier report in Verde Valley Justice Court, the minor’s mother learned about a physical relationship between her child and Fanning and instructed Fanning should have no more contact with the 18-year-old.
Documentation from the lower court reports that in November of 2011, a sheriff’s detective reported another meeting of the two by the side of the road. Shortly after that, the mother filed for an order of protection.
