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

A Wisconsin school cleared a special needs teacher of 'inappropriate behavior' with a teenage pupil just weeks before she allegedly began 18 months of abuse, a court has heard.

Jessica Kelbel, 29, has been charged with sexual assault of the boy at The Richardson School in Madison which caters for students with 'developmental/neurological disabilities, and behavioral and emotional concerns.'

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

The school concluded that 'the content did not merit further investigation' and allowed her to carry on teaching.

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

Jessica Kelbel, 29, has been charged with one felony H charge of sex assault of student by school staff and is due to make her first appearance in court on March 7

Dane County Court heard that the abuse may have gone on for as long as 18 months between the teacher and pupil at The Richardson School in Madison

Kelbel resigned from the school after police began investigating in December, and her husband, Trevor Quinn, filed for divorce on February 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 been on the phone to her victim 15 minutes earlier urging him to deny any sexual contact.

'Detective Vang asked Child Victim if he, at any point, engaged in any relationship, sexual intercourse, sexual contact, with Kelbel or any other teacher in the past,' the complaint says.

'Child Victim said he's never engaged in any of the described activities, with Kelbel nor anyone else.'

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

'Detective Vang reframed and asked Kelbel, "so you never had sex with [Child Victim]?" Kelbel responded, "No,"' the complaint continues.

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

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

'At this point Kelbel said, "We had sex back at my sister's place." Kelbel said she performed oral sex on Child Victim,' the complaint records.

She denied having sex with him on any other occasion and said he had willingly participated.

'Detective Vang asked Kelbel if she coached Child Victim before he interviewed him about any sexual contact with Kelbel,' the court was told.

'Kelbel said she did not tell Child Victim what to say to police. She said she believed Child Victim denied what happened because he wanted to protect her.'

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

The boy turned 18 in December and details of the school's 2022 investigation only emerged after police asked administrators whether there was any record of concern about Kelbel and her alleged victim.

'The victim's mother called with concern of contact on Snap Chat, expressing that her son 'has crush on teacher' and also that her son knew personal information about Kelbel pertaining to Kelbel's family and children,' police were told.

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

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

'In April 2022, a matter was brought to our attention regarding contact on social media and investigated,' it told 27 News.

'Though social media contact is a violation of our code of conduct, the content did not merit further investigation and was addressed according to normal company policies and procedures.'

Kelbel has been charged with one felony H charge of sex assault of student by school staff and is due to make her first appearance in court on March 7.