Registered sex offender arrested for sexual assault

SEBASTIAN COUNTY, Arkansas – A man previously named in lawsuits against a Greenwood preschool has been arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault.

According to police records, Jamie Speaks, 55, was arrested by the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office on July 11 on charges of sexual battery of a minor on July 3. He is being held on $100,000 bail.

Speaks is registered as a level two sex offender in the Arkansas Crime Information Center’s Sex Offender Registry database.

Prior to this arrest, Speaks was named in two civil lawsuits against Miss Tina’s Preschool, Inc. One was filed in December 2023 and the other lawsuit was filed in January 2024.

Each lawsuit accuses the preschool of knowingly allowing a convicted child molester to interact with children at the school, resulting in long-term sexual abuse. The lawsuits also accuse Speaks of “wrongfully, intentionally and coercively engaging in harmful physical sexual contact with (young children)” who were Miss Tina’s students.

According to the charges, Jamie was accused of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old child in 1993 who was cared for at the daycare center he and his wife, Wanda Speaks, ran in Hackett.

After the incident, Wanda closed the daycare and was hired by Miss Tina in about 1994, the documents say.

The lawsuits allege that Tina Skaggs, the preschool’s owner, knew about Jamie’s criminal past when she hired Wanda and knowingly allowed him to “regularly spend time at the preschool” despite being a “convicted child abuser and sex offender.”

In June 2012, Jamie pleaded guilty to sexual assault and sexual abuse of a child.

After Jamie’s conviction, he was required to register as a sex offender. However, the lawsuit says the school still allowed Jamie to spend time with the children at the daycare. In addition, parents who entrusted their children to Miss Tina’s Preschool were not informed that “their children were being exposed to this sex offender,” one of the lawsuits says.

In January 2024, Greenwood Police Chief Brad Hobbs said the department had interviewed the plaintiff in the second lawsuit, named Janet Doe, and would further investigate the allegations in a separate criminal case.

“We have been in touch with the Department of Health to obtain the lists of previous classes and possibly find witnesses who may have seen or heard something. Rest assured, we will do our best to investigate this as thoroughly as possible,” Hobbs said in January.

It is unclear whether Speak’s arrest is related to his time with Miss Tina.

Speaks is scheduled to appear in court on July 17.

5NEWS has reached out to a Sebastian County prosecutor and Greenwood police for more information.

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