Allegations of seven counts of child abuse involving six students by former Leavenworth Elementary School teacher Jerome Riscovallez have resulted in three school employees being charged with failing to report those abuse allegations to authorities.
Arrested in February and fired by the district soon after, Riscovallez is accused of two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, one count of criminal restraint, and four counts of battery. The charges reach back as far as October 2023.
The employees, Principal Kelsey Stimatze (two counts), Assistant Principal Alyssa O’Neal (three counts), and Executive Director of Human Resources for USD 453 Amy Sloan (three counts) are charged with failure to report child abuse as they are required to do as mandatory reporters. All remain employees of the Leavenworth district.
Each defendant is listed on the others’ witness lists.
The partially redacted Probable Cause Supporting Affidavits obtained by The Sentinel reach the same conclusion for each employee:
Based on the information received, it appears as Amy is USD 453 contact for misconduct and the operations of reporting. Amy conducted her own investigations without regard to notifying the Department of Children and Families or Law enforcement, which is a violation of mandated reporting. It also appears Alyssa and Kelsey USD 453 administrators had been contacted about the misconducts of this teacher towards (redacted) students on multiple occasions. They assisted with conducting their own investigations with Amy and/or Jeanette (Clampitt, principal at Leavenworth Elementary in 2023) without regard to notifying the Department of Children and Families or Law Enforcement, which is a violation of mandated reporting. Alyssa is a mandated reporter due to holding a Kansas State Board of Education License, which was Effective 07/20/2023 and does not expire until 07/20/2025. Kelsey is a mandated reporter due to holding a Kansas State Board of Education License, which was Effective 05/04/2021 and does not expire until 05/04/2026. Amy is a mandated reporter due to holding a Kansas State Board of Education License, which was Effective 11/18/2020 and does not expire until 11/18/2025. Due to their reckless inaction, they allowed an individual to continue working with children where he was able to exhibit his inappropriate behaviors towards them. At the time of this writing, there have been 6 identified (redacted) students who have come forward to report with their families. If appropriate reporting would have been taken in October 2023, professionals with the Department for Children and Families and Law Enforcement would have been involved and potentially prevented there being 5 additional victims by the USD 453 teacher.
Trial date for Riscovallez is set for September 30th. The three employees will be tried on February 2nd, 2026 with Judge Gerald Kuckelman considering a motion to join the three cases into a single case.
