photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

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

After nearly two years and the withdrawal of two special prosecutors, a man accused of sex crimes at a preschool has been released to house arrest as his case continues.

The defendant, Mateo Clavel Wills, 21, of Lawrence, is 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 that are said to have occurred at naptime 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.

Supporters of Wills packed the courtroom Friday along with people supporting the alleged crime victims. Judge Sally Pokorny said that she was informed prior to the scheduled preliminary hearing that the latest special prosecutor, Wyandotte County Assistant District Attorney Claire Kebodeaux, had withdrawn from the case and that the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office was working to hire a new one. The previous special prosecutor, Jeannette Wolpink, withdrew in January because she had resigned her position at the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Missouri, as the Journal-World reported.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Ricardo Leal said that he previously asked the court if he could be assigned to the case in the meantime but was denied.

Wills’ attorney, Angela Keck, said that it has been nearly two years since Wills was arrested in July of 2022 and that with no clear timeline as to when a new prosecutor would be assigned, the court should grant Wills the opportunity to be released on house arrest.

Pokorny agreed that the case had dragged out for too long and that bond is designed to ensure that a person appears for court and that the community is safe. She said court services had conducted a thorough investigation of Wills’ home and the court had been assured that if he were released on house arrest, he would not be living with any young children.

She then granted Wills house arrest with a $100,000 own-recognizance bond, meaning he would not be required to pay any money to be released. She warned Wills that if he failed to appear at future hearings that he would be “on the hook” for that money. Pokorny then set the case for a status conference on April 17 for the state to update the court on the search for a new prosecutor.