Teacher Accused Of Sexual Abuse Waives Preliminary Hearing

A former Omaha Public Schools teacher has waived his preliminary hearing.

Former Fontenelle Elementary teacher Gregory Sedlacek will now face trial in district court after waiving his preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

Sedlacek is currently facing six counts of First Degree assault and one count of Third Degree assault.

The case came to light with Sedlacek's arrest on December 3rd for the alleged assault of a 7-year-old girl at Fontenelle, where Sedlacek was employed at the time. The other cases and charges surfaced in the investigation that followed.

If convicted, Sedlacek could spend the rest of his life in prison.

The shackled suspect facing serious charges stood before the judge Wednesday. Deputy County Attorney Molly Keane said, “The allegations involve six separate victims.”

Defense Attorney Marc Delman said, “My client is presumed innocent and he is innocent.”

In November, teachers at Fontenelle Elementary said they saw Sedlacek behaving in an inappropriate manner with a student.

Keane said, “Teachers observed him on the playground and they saw him with his hand up her skirt and they saw him carry her over to a slide where he sat at the bottom of the slide with her straddling him. That was eventually reported to the Omaha Police Department.”

Prosecutors say Sedlacek then admitted to improperly touching other students, but his attorney said the presumption of innocence remains, “Not whether the statements were made. I don’t know, I wasn’t there. That’s the reason for one of the suppression hearings as well as right now it’s purely hearsay.”

Sedlacek remains held without bond.