A Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy has been arrested on charges of sexual and physical abuse of a minor.

Sheriff’s detectives were contact by a school counselor on Monday regarding a student who had disclosed they had been a victim of sexual abuse. The teenager told detectives they had been abused by Matthew Dessert since the age of nine. Due to victim confidentiality, the teen’s name and school have not been released.

Dessert, a patrol deputy for the Stanislaus County Sherrif’s Department, voluntarily came in for an interview and subsequently was arrested for continual sexual abuse of a child, lewd and lascivious acts with a minor 14 or 15 years of age, penetration with a foreign object of a victim under the age of 18, sexual battery and physical abuse of a child.

Dessert was booked into jail with $425,000 bail. He posted bail and was released a few hours after being booked.

Dessert has been employed as a patrol deputy for the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office since 2014.  He has been placed on paid administrative leave and his peace officer powers have been revoked, according to the Sheriff’s office.

The investigation is ongoing and if anyone has information regarding this case, they can contact Detective J. Wall at 209-525-7038 or jwall@stansheriff.com.