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 new special prosecutor has taken over the case of a man accused of child sex crimes at a Lawrence preschool.

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, as the Journal-World reported.

The charges relate to incidents that allegedly occurred 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.

The case has been delayed numerous times for scheduling issues and for the parties to attempt to mediate a resolution. Wills has been in custody for over 18 months on a $750,000 bond that his attorney, Angela Keck, has requested the court to lower, but Judge Sally Pokorny has denied Keck’s motions to do so.

In the latest wrinkle in the case, the previous special prosecutor, Jeannette Wolpink, asked to withdraw from the case because she is resigning her position at the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office in Missouri and “will not be practicing law for a time,” according to a motion she filed asking the court to appoint a replacement. Wolpink had been appointed at the request of the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office after it was determined there may be a conflict with the office and the case.

On Wednesday, a newly assigned special prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Claire Kebodeaux from Wyandotte County, made her first appearance in the case. During the hearing the parties indicated that the case needed to be set for a preliminary hearing. Pokorny set the hearing for a half day on April 5. At the hearing, Pokorny will decide whether there is enough evidence to order Wills to stand trial.

In addition to asking the court to lower Wills’ bond, Keck has also asked the court to schedule a hearing to suppress the statements Wills made to police during an interview at the time of his arrest. Wolpink in previous hearings objected to any bond reduction for Wills due to the severity of the crime and because of his alleged confession.

In filings in the case, Wolpink referenced a statement from Wills to police that “I believe the touching at naptime went too far, and I touched where I shouldn’t have … I touched them on their private areas.”

Keck has argued that the statement was only made after investigators asked Wills leading questions and that Wills initially denied having done anything inappropriate. A hearing had been scheduled for Feb. 2 at which one of the investigators in the case had been issued a subpoena, but that hearing was canceled, according to court records.