Hearing to suppress alleged confession by preschool worker accused of sex crimes continued as parties re-engage in mediation

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Mateo Emilio Clavel Wills is pictured during a motions hearing on March 3, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. Wills is accused of multiple sex crimes against a 3- and 4-year-old at the Raintree Montessori School in Lawrence.

A hearing to suppress a child-care worker’s alleged confession of lewd touching of preschool-aged children was continued on Friday for the defense to re-engage in mediation talks.

Mateo Emilio Clavel Wills, 20, of Lawrence, was charged in Douglas County District Court with four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under the age of 14. Two counts are in connection with a 3-year-old and two counts are for alleged acts with a 4-year-old, according to charging documents. The charges are off-grid felonies and could result in a life sentence if Wills is convicted.

The charges relate to alleged crimes between November 2021 and July 2022 at Raintree Montessori School, 4601 Clinton Parkway, when Wills was a part-time child-care worker at the school. Wills was arrested on July 6, 2022.

A psychologist, Gregory Nawalanic, was scheduled to testify on Friday about Wills’ mental capacity at the time of the alleged confession — in support of a motion filed by Wills’ defense attorney, Angela Keck, to suppress statements that Wills made to police the day of his arrest, as the Journal-World reported.

Nawalanic is the clinical director of psychology services at the University of Kansas Health System’s Strawberry Hill Campus. In a private capacity, he conducts psychological evaluations of defendants in the Douglas County Court system.

The motion to continue Friday’s hearing for Wills was a “joint application to continue” filed by Special Prosecutor Jeannette Wolpink from Jackson County, Missouri. The motion states that Keck and Wolpink have been engaged in ongoing plea negotiations, that there was a mediation session on Wednesday and that the parties plan to continue that process.

“The parties believe that further mediation sessions will be beneficial to potentially resolving the case,” Wolpink’s motion said.

A motions hearing was originally scheduled for March 3, when Judge Sally Pokorny was set to hear the suppression motion as well as a motion for a bond reduction for Wills, who is currently being held at the Douglas County Jail on a $750,000 bond. That hearing was continued to allow Wolpink time to review Nawalanic’s evaluation.

Wolpink, who appeared via Zoom at the March hearing, said that she would object to any bond modifications due to the nature of the crime and “due to the confession” to police after his arrest regarding two children at the school.

In an unsealed motion that Wolpink filed in response to Keck’s suppression motion, Wolpink detailed an interview conducted at the school where Wills initially denied inappropriate touching of any children, but around 40 minutes into the interview he allegedly told police, “I believe the touching at naptime went too far, and I touched where I shouldn’t have … I touched them on their private areas,” according to the motion.

Keck engaged in the mediation process early in the case before Wolpink was brought on as a special prosecutor, but Pokorny said at a hearing in January that it appeared that “all attempts to resolve the case had failed.”

Wolpink was appointed to the case at that time, and Keck said that she planned to make an attempt to negotiate with her.

It isn’t clear why Wolpink was appointed to the case in place of the previous prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden, and when the Journal-World asked why, the District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

A status conference has been set in Wills’ case for May 19.

More coverage: Mateo Wills Raintree Montessori case

• July 07, 2022: Man charged with sex crimes against children at a Lawrence child-care facility where he worked

• July 8, 2022: Raintree parents express fear and anger at lack of information about sex crime allegations at Montessori School

• July 25, 2022: Judge seals arrest affidavit in case involving alleged sex crimes at Raintree Montessori School

• January 11, 2023: Special prosecutor appointed in case involving alleged sex crimes at Raintree Montessori School; defense attorney hopes to resolve case without trial

• March 3, 2023: State alleges that worker accused of sex crimes at Lawrence’s Raintree Montessori School confessed; defense wants statements suppressed

• March 7, 2023: Recent filings shed more light on investigation, incriminating statements by Raintree Montessori worker in child sex crimes case