Whiteside School employee on leave after teacher said he sent her underwear, sex toy

A Whiteside School District 115 employee was moved to a new building in the district for three days before being put on administrative leave after a teacher complained that he sent her underwear and a sex toy through the mail.

Nicole Webster, a special education teacher at Whiteside Middle School in Belleville, filed a petition for a stalking no-contact order against Director of Technology Justin Ballou on March 15, which the St. Clair County Circuit Court granted her that same day.

A stalking no-contact order does not necessarily mean criminal charges have, or will be, filed. The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department is investigating Webster’s complaint.

Ballou did not respond to messages left with his work phone or email or to a private message through Facebook.

In her petition for the no-contact order, Webster cited three incidents since February. She said she received two packages she did not order at her home address: one with a fictitious return address label that contained a pair of Victoria’s Secret panties wrapped in plastic and another with a ball gag.

Webster also reported receiving four chandelier bulbs in her mailbox at Whiteside Middle School. She said she initially assumed someone had put them in the wrong mailbox.

In a written statement, Webster said that she contacted Superintendent Mark Heuring on March 15, the same day her no-contact order went into effect. Heuring said Wednesday that Ballou was placed on paid leave March 18.

For the three work days in-between, Webster said Ballou was placed at Whiteside Elementary School to accommodate her no-contact order.

“I was instructed to contact my immediate supervisor each day when I left the building so this administrator could access the middle school if needed,” she said. “I was also told that I was expected to return to work the following day unless I was sick.”

According to the court order, Ballou may not contact Webster directly or indirectly and is ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from Webster’s home and work. The order clarified that Ballou was able to continue his employment at Whiteside District 115, but could not communicate with Webster while at school.

In addition to the no-contact order and a police report, Webster said she filed a formal complaint within Whiteside 115 on March 17. She also filed police report with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Departmant.

Webster also asked that Ballou not have access to any of her information at work.

“He is the IT Director, so he has access to everything including my social security number, my banking information, my information anytime I log into my work computer and use the school wifi,” Webster wrote in her petition for the court order. “He also has access to my school email and all of my gradebook information. I have been unable to log into my desktop at work all week, so I am already very nervous about what is going on.”

As of Friday afternoon, Ballou is still listed as an employee on the district’s website.

“It is the school district’s policy not to comment specifically and publicly about a personnel matter or an ongoing investigation; however, District 115 expects to thoroughly investigate this matter on its own and to fully cooperate with any outside agencies who may be monitoring this situation,” Heuring said in his statement on Wednesday. “We can say that at no time were students ever involved with this situation or were ever at risk of harm.”

Heuring said on Friday that he could not comment further on the personnel matter beyond what he said in his previous statement, including whether or not he placed Ballou at the elementary school after Webster’s no-contact order was delivered.

The no-contact order is set to expire on April 5, the same day Ballou has a hearing.

An open records request made by the Belleville News-Democrat for police reports involving Ballou was denied by the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office because an investigation is ongoing.

Ballou previously agreed to the entry of a plenary order of protection filed against him by a woman in 2006, according to Madison County Circuit Clerk records.

“The past several weeks have been nothing short of traumatic,” Webster wrote. “ … I am grateful for the unwavering support of the staff and the building principals. I am willing to stand up for myself, my female co-workers and my students against a male in a position of power, who in my opinion, did not act immediately in respect to a male administrator who was harassing me.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2021 at 7:00 AM.