Carterville assistant football coach on leave is subject of
investigators’ subpoenas
[March 14, 2026]
By Molly Parker, Jackson Brandhorst
CARTERVILLE — The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State
Board of Education have served subpoenas on the Carterville school
district in southern Illinois seeking the personnel file and any
disciplinary records of John J. Wakey, a Carterville High School teacher
and assistant football coach who is under investigation for criminal
sexual abuse.
The sheriff’s office served its subpoena on the district for Wakey’s
records on Feb. 25, four days after announcing it had opened an
investigation involving an unnamed Carterville school district employee
accused of sexually abusing a former student.
Capitol News Illinois obtained the subpoenas under a Freedom of
Information Act request.
Sheriff Jeff Diederich told CNI last week that his office has received
numerous calls since making the announcement and believes there may be
multiple victims.
A second subpoena from the sheriff’s office, issued the same day
investigators sought Wakey’s personnel file, requests academic records
for 17 former students whose names were redacted by the district, citing
a privacy exemption under Illinois’ public record law. The subpoena does
not indicate why investigators are seeking the former students’ records.
A subpoena is a legal public record that’s part of an official
investigation. It does not indicate that wrongdoing has occurred, or
detail any allegations, and Wakey — who has worked in the district for
more than two decades — has not been charged with a crime. He did not
respond to multiple calls and text messages to his cell phone seeking
comment.
The district must provide the records by March 26 to Williamson County
Deputy Mike Flaningam. The sheriff has confirmed that Flaningam, who
joined the department on Jan. 1, 2025, and formerly served as the chief
of police in Carterville, is the lead investigator on the sexual abuse
case involving Wakey.
The Carterville school district previously announced that it placed the
employee on administrative leave after receiving notification from the
sheriff’s office on Feb. 20.
On Friday, Diederich said the sheriff’s office did not have further
comment about the subpoenas. Carterville Superintendent Sarah Barnstable
had not responded to a list of questions about the matter as of Friday
afternoon.
Separate inquiry by state education board
The Illinois State Board of Education has also issued a subpoena seeking
records related to Wakey’s employment. ISBE served the district with the
subpoena Monday — one business day after CNI and the Saluki Local
Reporting Lab reported that an FBI tip that initially started the
inquiry into the Carterville school employee had been made in November
2024 — nearly a year and a half before allegations became public — and
the employee placed on leave.
The state agency oversees education licensing in Illinois and is
responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct involving
licensed teachers. Such investigations are separate from criminal or
child welfare investigations, though ISBE may obtain information from
those agencies if they are involved in the case. Though the agency was
made aware that CNI had obtained its subpoena in a public records
request, ISBE spokesperson Lindsay Record said the agency still could
not comment on or confirm whether any specific investigation was
underway.
The ISBE subpoena, which is described as part of a “licensure
investigation” of Wakey, also seeks emails, text messages, internal
investigative reports, interview notes, witness statements and other
records related to his employment. The district has been ordered to
produce those materials to ISBE by April 16.
Questions about reporting requirements
An FBI spokesperson in Springfield told CNI last week that its National
Threat Operations Center, which serves as a central intake for public
tips regarding federal crimes, had received information about possible
abuse by a Carterville school employee in November 2024. At the time,
the spokesperson said the FBI determined it did not have jurisdiction to
lead the investigation and turned it over to local law enforcement.
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Light illuminates the entrance of the Carterville High School on the
evening of March 3, 2026, in Carterville, Illinois. (Photo by Lylee
Gibbs)
Flaningam received the tip that same month from an FBI agent in Marion
while he was still serving as the police chief in Carterville. The
following month, city officials opted not to renew Flaningam’s contract;
his employment with the city ended on Dec. 31, 2024. He was hired as an
investigator in the sheriff’s office beginning the next day and
transferred the case prior to his exit. Diederich said the case remained
largely dormant for 15 months due to a lack of evidence.
The announcement of the investigation has shaken Carterville, a southern
Illinois community of about 5,800 people known in southern Illinois for
its strong school system, as well as its high school football tradition.
In the wake of the investigation, some parents and community members
have questioned why the district did not make a report to the Illinois
Department of Children and Family Services upon first learning about the
FBI tip in November 2024. Educators are mandated reporters under
Illinois law and must report suspected child abuse or neglect to the
state’s child abuse hotline.
Barnstable, the Carterville school superintendent, said the tip, as
relayed to a district administrator in November 2024, was anonymous and
unverified, and school officials did not have enough information to
conduct their own investigation or file a report to DCFS. She did not
respond to a question about which administrator received the report, and
whether that individual notified anyone else, including the district’s
attorney and school board members
Barnstable said the district took immediate action once law enforcement
notified administrators on Feb. 20 that a former student had provided a
formal statement. The sheriff’s office notified the district that it had
made a report to DCFS at the same time, she said.
It is not clear whether an earlier report would have triggered a child
welfare investigation. Diederich said his office has not spoken with any
alleged victims who are currently minors or enrolled in the district.
The individuals who have come forward are former students who are now
adults, and DCFS typically only investigates allegations of abuse and
neglect involving victims under 18. Reports involving child victims of
abuse who are now adults are generally referred to law enforcement,
according to DCFS spokesperson Heather Tarczan.
Public sanctions against educators, including license suspensions and
revocations, are published on ISBE’s Educator Quality webpage.
CNI and the Saluki Local Reporting Lab have also requested any
disciplinary records related to Wakey through the Illinois Freedom of
Information Act. Barnstable asked for an additional five days to respond
to that request.
She said the district intends to respond by March 19 — the date of the
next Carterville school board meeting, where several parents have said
they plan to address the investigation and the school’s handling of it.
This story was produced for Capitol News Illinois
through the Saluki Local Reporting Lab, supported by grant funding
from the SIU Foundation and the Illinois Press Foundation.
Jackson Brandhorst is a student at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale, and a senior member of the Daily Egyptian,
SIU’s student newspaper. Brandhorst can be reached at jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian.com.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state
government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is
funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation. |
