Greenwood police arrest sex offender accused of sexually abusing minors at daycare

GREENWOOD, Arkansas (KNWA/KFTA) – A Hackett man is accused of sexually abusing a minor at a daycare center when the victim was 2 years old, court records show.

Jamie Speaks, 55, was arrested by Greenwood police on July 11 on a charge of second-degree sexual assault.

The Arkansas Crime Information Center’s Sex Offender Registry database shows that Speaks is a level two sex offender.

A probable cause affidavit filed July 8 states that on May 26, 2022, GPD received a report of a sexual assault from the parents of a 16-year-old.

The victim told a caregiver that she was sexually abused by Speaks at a daycare center when she was about two years old.

She told interviewers that Speaks came to the daycare she attended while his wife worked in the kitchen.

Speakes is said to have taken her by the hand into the bathroom and sexually abused her there.

The girl said she didn’t tell anyone about the abuse until she went into therapy at age 16.

Before Speaks was arrested, he was named in two civil lawsuits against Miss Tina’s Preschool in Greenwood, filed in December 2023 and January 2024.

The lawsuits accuse the preschool of knowingly allowing a convicted child abuser to interact with children at the school, which reportedly led to long-term sexual abuse.

Speaks is accused of forcibly and intentionally engaging in “harmful physical sexual contact” with minors who were staying at Miss Tina’s home.

The indictment states that Speaks was accused in 1993 of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl who was being cared for by him and his wife at their home daycare center.

His wife closed the daycare after the incident in 1994 and was later hired at Miss Tina, the lawsuit says.

Tina Skaggs, the owner of the preschool, reportedly knew about Speaks’ criminal past when she hired his wife and allowed him to spend time at the preschool despite his convictions and status as a sex offender.

In the lawsuit, Skaggs denies the claim that Speaks was “frequently and constantly present” during the time his wife was employed at the preschool.

She also denies knowing that Speaks was left unattended with the children and took them to the toilet.

The two lawsuits are scheduled to go to trial next year, one beginning on August 11, 2025, the other on September 8, 2025.

According to court documents, Speaks pleaded guilty to sexual assault and sexual immorality with a child in June 2012.

Speaks is being held at the Sebastian County Detention Center on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on July 17.

Miss Tina’s Preschool has been listed as permanently closed on Bing and Google. The phone number listed on Bing has been disabled.

Miss Tina’s Preschool is not listed in the Arkansas Department of Human Services’ database of licensed child care providers, but the Arkansas Secretary of State’s online business locator database still lists the school as a “nonprofit corporation” in “good standing.”

Two other child care providers are listed under Skaggs’ name in the DHS database: Preschool Extraordinaire on South Coker Street and Bundles of Joy Infant Center on Highway 71 South.