GREENWOOD, Arkansas — On Jan. 9, a second lawsuit was filed against Miss Tina's Preschool, Inc. and the sex offender who allegedly had access to the daycare, accusing the Greenwood preschool of knowingly allowing a convicted child predator around kids at the school, leading to long-term sexual abuse.
Jamie Speaks, 54, one of the defendants in the case, is registered as a level two sex offender on the Arkansas Crime Information Center's Sex Offender Registry database.
According to the lawsuit, Jamie was charged with molesting a 7-year-old who was in the care of him and his wife, Wanda Speaks, at their at-home daycare in Hackett in 1993.
After the incident, Wanda closed the at-home daycare and was hired at Miss Tina's around 1994, the document says. According to the lawsuit, Wanda was employed with Miss Tina's as recently as December 2023.
The suit alleges that Tina Skaggs, the preschool's owner, knew of Jamie's criminal history when she hired Wanda and knowingly allowed him to "regularly spend time at the preschool," despite being a "convicted child molester and sex offender."
The plaintiff, now 19 years old, attended Miss Tina's Preschool between the ages of two and five, when "Wanda was responsible for watching over the plaintiff and other children who were among the first to arrive at the daycare each morning."
Lawsuits accusations:
- The lawsuit accuses Miss Tina's Preschool of negligence in hiring Wanda, who allowed Jamie Speaks around children unsupervised.
- Miss Tina's is liable for its agents and employees, and therefore breached its duty to the plaintiff by allowing misconduct of Wanda Speaks who brought her husband to the school, according to the lawsuit.
- Additionally, the plaintiff also accuses Jamie of "wrongfully, intentionally, and forcefully making harmful physical sexual contact with [the] plaintiff, a small child."
- Finally, the plaintiff is suing both Miss Tina's and Jamie for inflicting intentional emotional distress.
Another lawsuit filed on Dec. 12 also accuses Miss Tina's Preschool of negligence and Jamie Speaks of sexual battery.
The first lawsuit alleges that Wanda knew of her husband's criminal convictions and still allowed him to come to work with her and be around her students.
"Wanda Speaks knowingly allowed her husband to take children like [the] plaintiff to the bathroom completely unsupervised, and spend time with children, including [the] plaintiff in empty rooms in the daycare facility," court documents say.
Skaggs was also allegedly aware that Jamie was left unsupervised with children as he "was there performing essentially free labor for Miss Tina's nearly every morning."
While there were fewer students, children, and adults present in the morning, the lawsuit says Jamie would take two or three children, including the plaintiff, to a "movie room" and have them touch him inappropriately. The plaintiff said this occurred "as often as every other day."
Three years after the plaintiff left the school, in June 2012, Jamie pleaded guilty to sexual assault and sexual indecency with a child. According to court records, the sexual assault violation happened in January 2005, and the sexual indecency violation occurred in October 2010.
Following Jamie's criminal conviction, he had to officially register as a sex offender, but the lawsuit says the school still allowed Jamie to spend time with the children at the daycare. Additionally, parents who trusted Miss Tina's Preschool with their children were not notified that "their children had been exposed to this predator."
According to the lawsuit, two witnesses said Jamie was present for 2023's preschool graduation.
Many parents and former employees gave brief accounts of seeing Jamie at Miss Tina's over the years in the lawsuit. One former employee said, "Rumors about Jamie Speaks molesting children were widely known in the Greenwood area."
Due to "Miss Tina's failure to supervise the plaintiff and other small children under its care during the times at which Jamie Speaks was present at the facility ... [the] plaintiff endured years of unspeakable sexual abuse by Speaks, all of which occurred at Miss Tina's Preschool."
The plaintiff seeks compensation "for the devastating effects and damages Miss Tina's negligence has caused her," as well as punitive damages to punish Miss Tina's Preschool, Inc. and deter other daycares from doing the same.
The plaintiff has requested a trial by jury and reserves the right to name additional parties responsible in connection to Miss Tina's after further discovery.
According to the Arkansas Secretary of State's business database, Miss Tina's Preschool, Inc. is still active as a non-profit corporation. The business names attached to the corporation are Preschool Extraordinaire at 508 S Coker Street in Greenwood and Bundles of Joy Infant Center at 16012 Highway 71 in Greenwood.
The database says the registered agent for the corporation is Tina Skaggs. Officers of the corporation are Tina, Kelvin Skaggs, and Ashley Rutledge.
Greenwood Police Chief Brad Hobbs says the department has interviewed the plaintiff, under the name Janet Doe, and will continue to investigate the allegations in a separate criminal case.
"We've been in contact with the Department of Health Services to get the rosters of classes, previous classes to potentially locate some witnesses that might have seen something or heard something. Just know that we're doing the best we can we're going to investigate it as thoroughly as we can," Hobbs said.
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