A teacher’s aid at the Salem Child Development Center who was arrested in January and pleaded guilty to sexual abuse on a child was sentenced to 75 months in prison, authorities reported.

Joshua N. Shewell, Photo provided by SPD

Joshua N. Shewell, 30, was accused of two counts of first-degree sex abuse and one count of first-degree sodomy against an eight or nine-year-old girl in 2001, Salem Police’s Public Information Officer Lt. Bill Kohlmeyer said. 

Shewell pleaded guilty on February 7 to the sex abuse charges and is currently in custody at Coffee Creek Correctional Center in Wilsonville, Oregon.

At the time of the crimes, Shewell was working as a teacher’s aid at the child development center, and has in the past volunteered at several area schools.  The victim was not someone he supervised, said Kohlmeyer.

Anyone with information about Shewell is asked to contact Detective Kris Knox at 503.588.6050, ext. 7162.