Kost Allegedly Bullied, Stalked And Forced Female Students Into Having Sex

Tyler Kost

At 13 female students from the San Tan Valley area have been identified that were sexually assaulted, abused and molested by Kost.

By H. Nelson Goodson

May 4, 2014

San Tan Valley, Arizona - On Thursday, Tyler Kost, 18, a student from Poston Butte High School was taken into custody once again and is facing additional charges for sexual assault and child molestation. On March 25, a detective from the Pinal County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) received a call that Kost had allegedly sexaully assaulted, abused and molested five female students from the San Tan Valley area, a suburb of Phoenix, the PCSO reported. 

Kost was taken into custody and booked on April 28 for two felony counts of sexual assault and two counts for sexual misconduct, in one case a involving a student. Kost bail was set at $10,000 and was released. Kost was arrested again on Thursday and is now facing multiple felony counts of sexual assault and sexual misconduct involving at least 12 other female students. One of the victims is 13.

In one case, according to the PCSO, "Kost threatened a victim, harassed her and told her to kill herself. She attempted to commit suicide and was hospitalized. While in the hospital she received a message from Kost, threatening that if she returned to school he would "make her life a living hell." Due to the threats she was receiving, she never returned to school and moved out of state."

Sheriff Paul Babeu stated, "Over 80% of female victims who are sexually assaulted or raped never report the crime to law enforcement. The young female victims in this case were threatened, harassed, stalked and then either forcibly sexually abused or sexually assaulted by Tyler Kost. This investigation is still in the early stages and 13 victims have been identified and I am sure this number will climb. We want to help every victim so if you have any information on these cases please report it to our detectives."
Dectective's say, they're on the early stages of the investigation and are working with the additional victims to seek more charges against Kost.