Omaha School Principal Accused Of Sex With Student

OMAHA, NE — A middle school principal in Omaha, Nebraska, was formally charged Tuesday with a pair of felonies stemming from allegations that he had multiple sexual encounters with a 15-year-old student, including some on school grounds. Police began investigating Matthew Fedde, 45, after a tip came into the Millard Safe Schools Hotline, operated by Boy’s Town, a Millard Public Schools spokesperson said.

The teen’s parents tuned over her journal, which prosecutors said contained passages about the encounters, which allegedly took place from September of last year until Fedde’s arrest on Thursday. Fedde, the 10th grade assistant principal at Millard South High School, was placed on administrative leave.

Fedde, who was arrested on Thursday, has denied the allegations, but police said footage from security cameras at the school support them. A court affidavit also included transcripts of text messages between the two on the teen’s phone.

In one passage in her journal, the teen wrote that she and Fedde had sex in the counselor’s office, the Omaha World-Herald reported. The most recent encounter occurred on Dec. 12, Omaha police said.

“No one should be in this type of relationship,” Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said, according to a KETV report. “It’s not a relationship; it’s a crime.”

Kleine told the TV station he is confident the charges will stick.

“We wouldn’t charge the case if we didn't think we could prove it,” he said.

In a brief hearing in Douglas County Court Tuesday, Fedde formally charged with two counts of first-degree criminal assault. If convicted, he will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison on each charge, and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that Fedde and the girl had sexual intercourse at least twice on school property, had engaged in oral sex and that she had been digitally penetrated multiple times.

Douglas County Judge Marcena Hendrix set Fedde’s bond at 10 percent of $500,000, and also included a no-contact order with any children, including his own.

Fedde’s attorney, Matthew Burns, told the World-Herald his client is “devastated” and that the charges are “nearly the worst thing you could have alleged against you.”

“It’s hit him like a ton of bricks,” Burns said.

Fedde, a Millard Public Schools employee since 2012, is married and has no previous criminal records, according to the reports.

Omaha police booking photo