Sebastian County sex offender arrested in connection with child sex abuse | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

FORT SMITH – A registered sex offender from Sebastian County faces new charges related to child abuse.

Previously, two women filed separate lawsuits last year alleging that Jamie Leon Speaks sexually abused them while attending Miss Tina’s Preschool in Greenwood.

Speaks, 55, of Hackett was arrested Thursday in connection with one count of second-degree sexual assault. He was being held Tuesday at the Sebastian County Detention Center on $100,000 bail.

According to a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors in Sebastian County District Court, Speaks had sexual contact with a child between August 2008 and August 2011.

He was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning.

Two women – identified in court documents as Jane Doe and Janet Doe – filed lawsuits against Speaks and Miss Tina’s Preschool in December and January, respectively, alleging that Speaks sexually harassed them while they attended the school, from 2007 to 2011 for Jane Doe and from 2006 to 2009 for Janet Doe.

The lawsuits allege that Speaks was regularly allowed to help out at the preschool while his wife, Wanda Speaks, was employed there. Wanda Speaks allowed her husband to accompany her to work despite knowing that he had a history of sexually abusing children, the lawsuits say.

Jamie Speaks pleaded guilty in June 2012 to sexual abuse of a child and second-degree assault on a child in connection with incidents that occurred in 2005 and 2010. He was placed on the sex offender registry and sentenced to probation.

According to the state’s online registry, Speaks is a Level 2 sex offender.

According to the lawsuits, Miss Tina’s Preschool never prohibited Jamie Speaks from spending time at the daycare and being around other children, even after he was already enrolled.

The lawsuits further allege that Speaks attended the preschool’s graduation ceremony last year, according to testimony from at least two witnesses.

Wanda Speaks was operating a daycare center out of her Hackett home in 1993 when Jamie Speaks was accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl who attended the Speaks’ daycare, the lawsuit says. However, Speaks was acquitted of first-degree sexual abuse charges, according to court information.