An OPS principal is behind bars following a child sex abuse investigation. Fontenelle Elementary Principal Eric Nelson was arrested for intentional child abuse in connection to the investigation.
Nelson had been on administrative leave since December, when teacher Greg Sedlacek was arrested for child sexual assault of students at the elementary school.Teachers at the school saw Sedlacek acting inappropriately with a 7-year-old student during recess, and reported the assault.
Sedlacek is being held without bond, facing six counts of first-degree assault and one count of third-degree assault. Nelson was placed on administrative leave after the assaults came to light.
"The crux of it... is that he failed to report, failed to protect the kids," Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said. "He was informed by other individuals, witnesses, that they had seen what they believed on the playground, Sedlacek sexually assaulting some children. They informed him about that on November 18th, I believe it was he didn't, you know, there are mandatory reporters. He didn't report it."
Fontenelle Elementary emailed families to let them know on Friday. The entire email is below.
Dear Fontenelle Elementary Families:
We wanted to make you aware that we were informed by the Omaha Police Department today that Fontenelle Principal Eric Nelson was arrested this afternoon. His arrest stems from an investigation into child abuse charges brought against a former Fontenelle teacher this past December.
Mr. Nelson has been on administrative leave since early December and remains on leave. We continue to cooperate with law enforcement throughout this investigation.
Due to privacy laws, we are unable to share additional information.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the school at 402-457-5905.
Thank you for your continued support of Fontenelle Elementary and Omaha Public Schools.
Sincerely,
Scott Sturgeon
Executive Director of School Support and Supervision