Police Arrest First Grade Teacher Accused of Inappropriately Tickling Students — For the 4th Time

A former teacher at a private school in Connecticut was arrested for the fourth time after being accused of inappropriately tickling a student.

Nicholas Ricciardi, 47, is now facing a new charge of risk of injury to a child after being booked into custody by officers with the West Hartford Police Department on July 1, according to court records.

He was released after posting his $50,000 bond and is set to be arraigned on July 10.

The investigation into Ricciardi began back in December 2024 when the Connecticut Department of Children and Families contacted the WHPD to inform them that the agency was looking into a report of suspected child sexual abuse, severe physical abuse and/or severe neglect involving the teacher and a former student.

That report was filed by a concerned mother who alleged that her 6-year-old daughter had been “inappropriately touched by her teacher multiple times while attending the Solomon Schechter Day School,” according to a copy of the incident report filed by Detective Dustin Ganci of the WHPD and obtained by PEOPLE.

Ganci spoke with the mother, who informed him she had removed all of her children from the $35,000-a-year private Jewish day school in the wake of these alleged incidents.

In that interview, the mother alleged that her daughter had been inappropriately tickled “around the belly button area” by Ricciardi on multiple occasions, and that this behavior had allegedly been observed by an older sibling who had previously attended the school.

She also told Ganci that while helping her daughter shower one day, the girl allegedly told her that “Mr. Ricciardi is a bad man and that he has hurt her,” according to the report.

This prompted the mother to reach out to Ricciardi and the head of the school in an email that read in part:

I know [alleged victim] is a fun spunky girl who loves to joke around. We are working hard to teach [alleged victim] the importance of bodily autonomy and not allowing others besides a medical professional or parent to touch her body, and what constitutes appropriate touching. I understand that nothing was meant by your friendly gesture, of course, and we appreciate your support of our expectation that no one should touch or tickle [alleged victim]. We wouldn’t want someone else to take advantage of [alleged victim]’s trusting nature.

According to the report, Ricciardi responded to the email, writing:  “Heard and understood… Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Appreciate it. – Nick”

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

The head of the school told the mother they would open an investigation. But the mother, after speaking privately with two teachers who allegedly described several “red flags” involving Ricciardi, decided to remove her children from the school, she told Ganci.

Meanwhile, the head of the school told Ganci that Ricciardi was “informed to stop that behavior.”

Less than two weeks later, Ricciardi was placed on leave after one of the teachers who spoke with the alleged victim’s mother about witnessing “red flags” claimed that she had seen him “touch the side waistline” of a child and compliment their “cool belt,” according to the report.

Ganci next spoke with that teacher, who said that she “witnessed Ricciardi tickling children on multiple occasions, but that she believed that tickling to not be of a sexual nature.”

When Ganci then asked the teacher “if she witnessed any other inappropriate activity by Ricciardi within the school,” she said she had not.

Ganci then reached out to Ricciardi, who allegedly said he was not certain if he wished to speak with the detective.

The report says that after not hearing from Ricciardi for a week, police arrested him at his home and charged him with risk of injury to a child and breach of peace.

On June 13, Ricciardi was also charged with risk of injury to a child after being arrested by WHPD officers.

Those three arrests by the WHPD all pertain to incidents which allegedly occurred on Nov. 24, 2024.

Officers with the Windsor Police Department also arrested Ricciardi in April and charged him with risk of injury to a child and breach of peace after investigating similar allegations from 2023, involving a student at a previous school where Ricciardi worked, according to court records.

Ricciardi has now posted $135,000 in bonds and is facing four counts of risk of injury to a child and two counts of breach of peace between his four arrests.

He will appear in court on Aug. 21 to enter pleas in at least three of those cases.

Ricciardi’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.