Zion Elementary School Principal Charged With Sexual Assault

ZION, IL — The principal of an elementary school in Zion has been charged with sexual assault in Wisconsin, where prosecutors say one of his former students described having sex with him on a daily basis while she was in high school a decade ago.

Curtiss Tolefree, 42, of Kenosha, has been charged with three counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff, a class H felony punishable by up to six years in state prison, and two counts of exposing genitals to child, a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 9 months in jail, stemming from a period where he worked as dean of students at Mary D. Bradford High School in Kenosha, according to court records.

According to a criminal complaint filed Friday by Kenosha County prosecutors, a now-28-year-old woman told police she had often gotten into trouble during her junior year at Bradford and spent a lot of time in Tolefree's office.

In the fall of 2008, at age 17, the woman and Tolefree had sex for the first time, according to the complaint. The woman told authorities they "had sex just about every day at school" for the rest of the 2008-09 academic year, according to the probable cause affidavit in support of the charges.

Tolefree has not responded to a request for comment about the charges.

The woman described staying at school with Tolefree until 7 to 8 p.m., sometimes working out together before or after having sex, the complaint alleged. The incidents also took place at Tolefree's Kenosha home or in Tolefree's SUV in the alley behind her mother's house or on a nearby side street, according to the complaint.

"She viewed him as her best friend," the complaint said.

Tolefree would call the student out of class to have her come to his office where they would have sex during the school day, prosecutors said.

The two spent an entire weekend together at a La Quinta Inn in Kenosha during the girl's junior year before visiting another hotel near the Cheesecake Factory at Westfield Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie, having sex at both locations, according to the charges. That incident has not yet led to any criminal charges since it took place in Illinois.

According to the charges, the relationship continued over the summer and the next year, even though Tolefree had changed offices. The student told investigators she began a relationship with someone else in 2010. At that point, Tolefree changed his tune, prosecutors said.

"[She] reports that [Tolefree] told her that she should be focusing on school, and she should not be getting into a relationship with someone. [She] states that she could tell that [Tolefree] was jealous. [She] reminded [Tolefree] that he was the one that was married so," according to prosecutors, "he had no room to talk."

Tolefree left Bradford in 2009 to become assistant principal at Washington Middle School in the Kenosha Unified School District. He returned to the high school as assistant principal from 2012 to 2014, when he was hired as principal of Washington.

In July 2018, Kenosha Unified School District Superintendent Sue Savaglio-Jarvis called for a termination hearing to remove Tolefree from his $110,000-a-year job as principal, filing a 10-page list of charges.

According to the "findings of fact" accompanying the statement of charges, school district staff received a complaint in May 2018 involving an inappropriate relationship between Tolefree and a subordinate at Washington Middle School that created an "intimidating and hostile environment." The relationship involved repeated sexual encounters inside the school building and while attending taxpayer-funded conferences, the allegations said. It also involved "lavish gifts" and a $7,000 loan for Tolefree.

"As a result of the inappropriate relationship," the superintendent alleged, "the subordinate believes her emotional well-being is at stake in that she feels trapped and feels she cannot leave the relationship without fear of losing her job at Washington Middle School because Mr. Tolefree holds a position of authority over her."

Tolefree engaged in a second sexual relationship with a subordinate in 2016, which also involved conduct at conferences and at school, the charges allege. Both women reported being pushed to tears by Tolefree's conduct.

"Mr. Tolefree has engaged in 'grooming' and predatory behaviors in which staff members view Mr. Tolefree as targeting vulnerable female employees and utilizing the employees to his advantage to advance his agenda and his reputation," the superintendent charged.

According to the charges, Tolefree gave false statements in his first June 2018 investigative interview and denied any improper relationships with subordinates. In a second interview, he answered "I do not recall" to the majority of questions, according to the superintendent.

Instead of exercising his right to contest the findings at a hearing, Tolefree resigned. After learning that reporters had requested portions of his personal records, Tolefree claimed his resignation prevented him from disputing the case.

"Had I known that this documentation would've been placed in my file, I would have requested a hearing to dispute the findings," he said — about two weeks after he was notified of the charges and his right to a hearing.

Shortly after the Lake County News-Sun reported on the circumstances of Tolefree's resignation, Todd Terry, Tolefree's Kenosha-based attorney, filed a lawsuit against Kenosha News, the Chicago Tribune Company and the Kenosha Unified School District trying to block the release of the allegations, which he described as "a scandalous/half cooked document that was not lawfully released."

Terry, who warned of a "substantial damages case," has declined repeated requests for an interview about the case, which a judge dismissed with a week of its filing.

The woman first reported the incident to Kenosha police in October 2018, according to prosecutors. Investigators corroborated the details of her account with district staff the next month.

Zion District 6 employees have not disclosed whether they were aware of the pending termination hearing at the time they hired Tolefree to an 11-month, $112,000-a-year contract in June 2018.

Donelle Staples, the district's communications director, said in a statement that administrators first learned of a criminal investigation into Tolefree on Monday.

"We understand that the criminal investigation is confidential, but the investigating agencies should have confidentially notified the school district who employs the target of the investigation so that appropriate safety actions could be taken," Staples said. "With that being said, we are thankful there is no indication that our district or our students have been impacted by this matter."

Staples said nothing showed up in the criminal background check, fingerprinting or reference check that is standard district practice for all hires.

Zion District 6 Superintendent Keely Roberts told parents that Tolefree was placed on administrative leave as soon as district officials learned of the charges. She said the district conducts criminal background checks and cross-references state and national sexual and violent offender registries before hiring people.

Roberts did not specify whether the administrators check the personnel file of new hires who recently have resigned from other school districts. Such a check would have revealed the allegations against Tolefree in Kenosha and his former boss' recommendation that he be fired.