photo by: Journal-World File

Caleb Rahmeier is pictured in December 2023 as he accepted the Lawrence Schools Foundation’s $5,000 “Dedication to Education” award.

A former award-winning paraprofessional in the Lawrence school district has been charged with two more sex crimes against children, bringing the number of criminal charges to four.

The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office recently charged Caleb Zachary Rahmeier with attempted sexual exploitation of a child, which allegedly occurred between May 21, 2022, and Sept. 3, 2024, and sexual exploitation of a child, which allegedly occurred on or about Sept. 4, 2024. Both charges are felonies.

As the Journal-World reported, Rahmeier was already facing one felony count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one misdemeanor count of contributing to a child’s misconduct or deprivation, both of which allegedly occurred on or about July 1, 2023. According to allegations in his arrest affidavit, Rahmeier is accused of inappropriately touching a boy, asking him to undress and giving him dozens of late-night car rides. Both charges, filed in October 2025, relate to the same child, who was a West Middle School student between 14 and 16 years old.

In the complaint with the new charges, the alleged victim appears to be the same boy as in the original complaint; however, no initials are listed for the alleged victim in one of the charges. Among the witnesses listed in the amended complaint are 10 minors with birth years between 2008 and 2010.

Rahmeier was honored in December 2023 with the Lawrence Schools Foundation’s “Dedication to Education” award. The award, which comes with a $5,000 check, is given each year to a teacher or paraeducator who goes out of his or her way to help challenged and/or disadvantaged students.

Allegations in the arrest affidavit, which have not been proved in court, indicated that the boy told West Middle School Vice Principal Amanda Faunce over a year after the offense date that he and Rahmeier had been messaging each other on the online platform Discord since 2022, when the boy was in the seventh grade. The two talked and played video games like Fortnite online, but by the summer of 2023, the interactions had escalated to Rahmeier helping the boy sneak out of his house, the boy said, and during one late-night car ride, Rahmeier allegedly touched the boy’s thighs and asked him to take off his pants.

“No one would know if I did anything to you,” the boy said Rahmeier told him, along with assurances that it wasn’t “gay” or “weird.” The boy, however, refused to go along with the request, demanded to be taken home and threatened to get out and walk. Rahmeier then took him home, he said, and no further touching occurred.

The boy also alleged that his Discord conversations with Rahmeier included Rahmeier talking to him about masturbation and telling him he loved him. The older man also purchased video game currency for the boy and allegedly requested that the boy send him “shower” photos, which the boy said he declined to do.

The boy identified Rahmeier’s Discord account as “bubbacaleb.” Police reviewed messages belonging to that account, but what they found is entirely redacted in the first affidavit, which is solid blocks of black ink for more than two pages, at the request of the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office. The affidavit does note, though, that police found no requests by Rahmeier on Discord for nude images of the boy.

After Rahmeier was placed on administrative leave, he agreed to talk to police and waived his Miranda rights. Rahmeier reportedly admitted to having messaged with the boy on Discord and to having purchased game currency for him, but he said the boy always paid him back. When asked about his alleged declaration of love for the boy, Rahmeier said he meant it platonically. When the subject of the late-night rides came up, Rahmeier stopped the interview and requested an attorney, the affidavit said.

The Journal-World has reached out to the DA’s Office regarding the two new felony charges but had not heard back as of Tuesday afternoon.

Rahmeier is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing on Aug. 6 in Douglas County District Court. At such a hearing a judge hears evidence and determines whether there’s probable cause to order a defendant to stand trial.