Court papers say why teen targeted for abuse by teacher

Jason W. Stalnaker

The News Journal

Wilmington, Delaware

January 11, 2008

DOVER — Former Capitol Baptist School teacher Jason W. Stalnaker allegedly targeted a 15-year-old student for sexual abuse because he knew she had been molested by her grandfather at the age of 7 and “appeared to be weak,” according to court records.

Stalnaker, who stands 6 feet tall and weighs 230 pounds, allegedly abused the girl while she was 15 and 16 – including while they were in class or on the Sunday school bus.

The 33-year-old Stalnaker, who lives on Commerce Street in Harrington, was in Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna today in lieu of $1.3 million secured bail.

Because Stalnaker worked as a school bus driver and as a tutor in the area after resigning his teaching job in 2003, Dover police say they believe he may have preyed on other youngsters and are asking for any victims to contact them.

Stalnaker was arrested Wednesday on 295 charges that include first-degree rape and continuous sexual abuse of a child.

The alleged abuse came to light last month, when the now 21-year-old woman contacted city police.

She told Cpl. Joseph E. Richardson that the abuse began in May 2002 while she was a student at the Kesselring Avenue school.

“The victim stated that the suspect’s desk was located at the rear of the classroom and all the students’ desks faced away from his,” Richardson wrote in a probable-cause affidavit filed in Justice of the Peace Court 7.

Stalnaker would call the girl to his desk and fondle her – which was made easier by the fact that the school’s dress code requires dresses or skirts, the affidavit states.

Stalnaker, the affidavit states, allegedly fondled the girl nearly every day during the school week.

Stalnaker also would drive to the girl’s home and take her to Dawson Bus Service in Camden, where he would retrieve the Sunday school bus, the affidavit states.

Their first stop was always at the McDonald’s restaurant on South Du Pont Highway in Dover, where the two would go to the rear of the bus and engage in various sexual acts, the woman told police.

In July 2003, the girl and her family moved to Mississippi, and the Monday after she moved Stalnaker returned to work to find an anonymous letter that stated the writer would tell police of the abuse unless Stalnaker resigned.

Stalnaker eventually told his wife of the relationship, the affidavit states. She divorced him in 2005 after a two-year separation.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NEWS/80111042