Female Wisconsin special education teacher, 29, resigns from private school after being charged with sexually assaulting student

A Wisconsin school has cleared a special education teacher of “inappropriate conduct” with a teenage student just weeks before she allegedly began 18 months of abuse, a court has heard.

Jessica Kelbel, 29, has been charged with sexually assaulting the boy at the Richardson School in Madison, which serves students with “developmental/neurological disabilities and behavioral and emotional problems.”

The boy’s mother alerted the school in April 2022 that her son had a “crush” on the teacher after seeing alleged messages between the two on Snapchat.

The school concluded that “the content did not merit further investigation” and allowed her to continue teaching.

But she was arrested on January 25 after the boy’s brother told a friend that the pair had allegedly been having sex for a year and a half.

Dane County Court heard the abuse may have lasted as long as 18 months between the teacher and the student at Richardson School in Madison.

Kelbel resigned from the school after police began an investigation in December, and her husband, Trevor Quinn, filed for divorce on Feb. 5.

Police were alerted in December when the friend reported the brother’s claim.

When they arrived at the boys’ home on December 20, the brother told them that Kelbel had spoken to her victim on the phone 15 minutes earlier and urged him to refuse any sexual contact.

“Detective Vang asked Child Victim if he had ever had a relationship, sexual intercourse, sexual contact with Kelbel or any other teacher in the past,” the complaint said.

“Child victim said he was never involved in any of the activities described, either with Kelbel or anyone else.”

Kelbel denied any contact with the boy outside of a school setting when officers spoke to her that same day.

“Detective Vang rephrased and asked Kelbel, ‘So you never had sex with (child victim)?’ Kelbel responded, “No,” the complaint continues.

But the student’s brother claimed the boy had a video on his phone of the pair having sex, and officers interviewed Kelbel again on January 25.

The married mother-of-two continued to deny the claims before police said she admitted to having sex with the boy in October after he picked her up from a surgery appointment at hospital.

“At that point, Kelbel said, ‘We had sex at my sister’s house.’ Kelbel stated that she performed oral sex on Child Victim,” the complaint states.

She denied having sex with him on other occasions and said he had happily participated.

“Detective Vang asked Kelbel if she coached Child Victim before interviewing him about any sexual contact with Kelbel,” the court was told.

Kelbel said she did not tell the child victim what to say to the police. She said she believed the child victim denied what happened because he wanted to protect her.”

Kelbel, of Carpenter Street, resigned from the school after police began an investigation, and her husband, Trevor Quinn, filed for divorce on Feb. 5.

The boy turned 18 in December and details about the school’s 2022 investigation only emerged after police asked administrators if there were any concerns about Kelbel and her alleged victim.

“The victim’s mother called with concerns about contact on Snap Chat and indicated that her son ‘has a crush on the teacher’ and also that her son knew personal information about Kelbel regarding Kelbel’s family and children,” police were told. told.

The boy’s mother alerted the school in April 2022 that her son had a ‘crush’ on the teacher after seeing alleged messages between the two on Snapchat

The school, whose motto is “home of the bobcats,” is one of a handful of schools in the state owned by the Oconomowoc-based MyPath group, and said in a statement that it “takes student safety incredibly seriously takes’.

“In April 2022, an issue was brought to our attention regarding social media contact and investigated,” the report said 27 News.

“While social media contact is a violation of our code of conduct, the content did not merit further investigation and was handled according to normal company policies and procedures.”

Kelbel has been charged with a misdemeanor count of assault on a student by school staff and will make his first court appearance on March 7.