New Baden first-grade teacher faces child sexual abuse charge

A man who taught first-grade at New Baden Elementary School and coached girls’ sports teams for Wesclin School District 3 has been charged in federal court in East St. Louis with solicitation of child sexual abuse material, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

Jonathan C. Villmer Jr., 25, of New Baden was arrested on Friday at his home, according to court records.

Villmer is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

Federal court records do not list a defense attorney for Villmer.

Wesclin Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw released a statement to parents on Friday and told them Villmer has been placed on “indefinite administrative leave.”

Along with being a first-grade teacher, Villmer coached the Wesclin Middle School girls’ softball team and the Wesclin High School girls’ basketball team.

“Law enforcement has shared that, at this time, there is no information suggesting that any current or former Wesclin students are involved in this matter, nor that any of this alleged activity was conducted on District computers or our internet network,” she said in the statement.

The case against Villmer started with an unrelated investigation by the Carmi Police Department, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

This investigation led to a Snapchat account linked to Villmer.

“Villmer asked the minor for the ‘sexiest images,’ discussed having sex and taking the minor’s virginity, and requested photographs of her genitals,” the news release stated. “Sexually explicit conversations and requests for images with other purported minors were also identified within Villmer’s Snapchat account.”

Snapchat records showed that between Oct. 17 and Nov. 9 a conversation took place between a 13-year-old girl and an account linked to Villmer, the criminal complaint alleges.

The complaint alleges Villmer “confessed to using his Apple iPhone 11 to access the Snapchat application to solicit images of child sexual abuse material from several people he believed to be minors.”

“Villmer described the ‘thrill of the chase’ when requesting sexually explicit images from minors because of the difficulty of obtaining images from minors,” the complaint alleges.

If convicted, Villmer could face up to 20 years in prison.

“Adults who prey on children and their vulnerabilities are menaces to society,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe in the news release. “Individuals who work in schools and also exploit minors emulate another level of outwardly dangerous behavior.”

Anyone who believes they have information related to this case may contact Homeland Security Investigations Task Force Officer Bobby Wallace at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office by calling 618-244-8004.

This story was originally published August 21, 2023 at 6:09 PM.