School police officer arrested after getting very hands on with her job

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A school resource officer in Seneca County had a romantic relationship with one of the students she was hired to protect, deputies said.

Elisia M. Panipinto, 20, of West Covert Road, Interlaken, was arrested Thursday night by the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office and charged with official misconduct, police announced Friday in a news release.

She is accused of using her position as an Interlaken police officer to have an inappropriate relationship with an eighth grader, deputies said

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Panipinto, then an officer with the Interlaken Police Department, was assigned to serve as as a school resource officer in the South Seneca Central School District at the time of the incident, deputies said. She used her authority as a police officer to have time with the child in the school and develop a "physical, romantic relationship,” deputies said.

There is no evidence Panipinto and the student had sexual contact or that there are other victims, deputies said.

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At arraignment, her bail was set at $250 cash or a $500 bond. She was released from the Seneca County Correctional Facility Thursday morning, custody records show.

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