NFDL teacher charged with sexual assault of student

A North Fond du Lac teacher has been charged with sexually assaulting a special education student.

Dominic C. Carmona, 45, of Oshkosh, made an initial appearance in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court on Feb. 20 and was charged with seven felony counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff. Each count carries a maximum penalty of six years in priosn.

According to the criminal complaint, Carmona had been employed as an assistant teacher for the Special Education department at Horace Mann High School for the past five years. According to the criminal investigation, the relationship between Carmona and a 16-year-old female student took place between Dec. 1, 2014, and Jan. 31, 2015.

North Fond du Lac Superintendent Aaron Sadoff said the school district learned of the allegations against Carmona after the teacher handed in his resignation on Feb. 3.

“The safety of our students is a top priority in the district and whenever we learn of anything we will do everything we can to ensure that safety and that we are working cooperatively with the proper authorities,” Sadoff said. “Right now I feel very blessed and happy with the staff we do have and how they’re handling the situation.”

According to the criminal complaint, the student told police that she first met Carmona during study hall on Feb. 14, 2014. At the time she said she was feeling “extremely depressed” and left the classroom to sit out in the hallway. Carmona allegedly joined her and gave the girl his cell phone number with the advice to contact him whenever she was “feeling down”.

The girl said the relationship started off innocently at first. Over time, the two began holding hands while watching a movie together at the high school and exchanging emails — some of them using his school email account. The girl described many of the late night emails as being sexual in nature and some contained photos of Carmona in his underwear, according to the complaint.

During their relationship, the girl told investigators that Carmona gave her presents, including several pairs of underwear, the complaint said.

The girl admitted that Carmona often picked her up at her town of Friendship residence and they would visit cemeteries on their “dates.” The majority of the sexual activity took place while they were in Carmona’s vehicle, according to the complaint.

On Feb. 2, 2015, the girl was allegedly contacted by Carmona. During that conversation, Carmona told the girl to deny any sexual activity between the them and to deny any emails not sent via a district email account, according the complaint said.

Carmona is being held in the Fond du Lac County jail on a $30,000 cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Feb. 27 at 2 p.m.

Source: fdlreporter