West Hartford Police said a 46-year-old Manchester man, formerly a teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School, was arrested by warrant on Jan. 17, 2025.

By Ronni Newton

A former teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School in West Hartford was arrested last week and faces charges of risk of injury to or impairing the morals of a child and second-degree breach of peace following an investigation by the the West Hartford Police Department’s Detective Division.

Police said in a news release on Jan. 24 that they sought a warrant for the arrest of Nicholas Ricciardi, 46, of Manchester, after investigating a complaint that he had inappropriately touched a juvenile student at Solomon Schechter. He was arrested on Jan. 17, 2025, and is free after posting $40,000 court-set bond.

Solomon Schechter Day School’s Head of School, Rabbi Jonathan Berger, told We-Ha.com that Ricciardi had been hired as a general studies teacher for first and second grade, and was employed as of Aug. 1, 2024.

In a letter emailed to parents of students at Solomon Schechter by Berger on Jan. 19, 2025, following Ricciardi’s arrest on Friday, Jan. 17, Berger confirmed that “since mid-December, the teacher has not returned to campus, and he is no longer employed by the school. He has been directed not to return to the campus.”

Berger said in his letter that a parent had reported, shortly before Thanksgiving in 2024, “about alleged tickling of a student in the Anafim classroom by one of our faculty.” Berger told We-Ha.com that the “Anafim” classroom is first and second grade. The age of the student involved was not indicated.

“Tickling in a school setting presents concerns, but is not always grounds for reporting, and so we immediately placed the teacher on leave and began a preliminary inquiry to gather limited information so that we could make an accurate report should one be merited. As Mandated Reporters, that is our responsibility and what the law requires. Right after Thanksgiving, we reported what we learned to DCF [Department of Children and Families]; they reported back to us that they were not going to accept the case for further investigation. At that point, the teacher returned to school, with the understanding that tickling or other such questionable behavior was not acceptable,” Berger’s letter to parents states.

In December, Berger said, “we heard additional, related concerns from another parent.” At that point, Ricciardi was again placed on leave, DCF launched an investigation, and DCF also reported the matter to the West Hartford Police Department.

In his letter of Jan. 19, Berger stated that: “To the best of our knowledge, tickling on the student’s abdomen was the full extent of the reported behavior. We have no knowledge or evidence of anything beyond that.”

We-Ha.com has obtained and reviewed the report filed by the West Hartford Police detective who investigated the case.

The report notes that police opened their investigation after receiving a DCF-737 form, which is a notification used by DCF to inform police of any suspected child sexual abuse as well as severe physical abuse, and/or severe neglect.

The police investigation involved interviews with the victim, the victim’s sister – also a student at Solomon Schechter and reportedly a witness of “inappropriate touching” – and two other teachers at the school. The report also notes that with the permission of the victim’s mother, a forensic interview of both the victim and the victim’s sister was conducted by a representative of the Klingberg Child Advocacy Center, which is an independent institution, on Jan. 6, 2025.

The names of the victim and the victim’s sister have been redacted from the police report, and although no ages or other identifying information has been provided, the victim was referred to throughout the report as “her.”

The police report of the investigation indicates that the victim told her mother about being “tickled” by Ricciardi “around the belly button area,” as well as “touching and rubbing,” and also told her mother that Ricciardi had shared food privately with her. The victim’s mother told police that the victim has experienced behavioral changes including being afraid to sleep alone in her room.

The police investigation also stated that following the incident of “tickling” prior to Thanksgiving, the victim’s mother had email conversations with Ricciardi, which were shared with police. In one exchange, she told Ricciardi in an email that her daughter is a “fun, spunky girl who loves to joke around” and she is working hard to “teach [the victim] about the importance of bodily autonomy and not allowing others besides a medical professional or parent touch her body” as well as what is appropriate touching. The police report indicates that Ricciardi replied, “Heard and understood … Thanks for bringing this to my attention.”

Two female teachers at Solomon Schechter, whose names have been redacted, were also interviewed by police during the investigation.

One teacher told police she witnessed Ricciardi tickling the victim “below her belly button area,” and had also seen Ricciardi touch another child’s “waistline” during spirit week at the school. The teacher told police that she had told the victim’s mother that “several other female teachers have seen ‘red flags’ with Ricciardi” but were afraid that they would lose their jobs if they spoke up.

The other teacher interviewed said that she had given Ricciardi a hug to congratulate him for something, and he then had “placed his hand on her buttocks area, which was unwanted.”

The police report notes that Berger stated that Ricciardi was told to stop the tickling after the initial incident had been reported. The report cites Berger as stating: “We spoke with the teacher pretty clearly and he understood that, that had to stop and we hoped that was the end of the matter.”

According to the police report, when Berger learned that Ricciardi had not stopped the tickling behavior and had touched another child’s waistline, “the decision was made by the school to place Ricciardi on a leave of absence.” Ricciardi had not initially contested that he had tickled the victim, and Berger told police that he “appeared upset and stunned” when he was informed that he would be placed on leave.

During the forensic interview with KCAC, police said the victim provided the same information about being tickled on her stomach area by Ricciardi, and described the tickling as “hard and it hurt.”

Ricciardi declined a request from the West Hartford Police detective to discuss the incident, stating on Jan. 13  that he would “plead the fifth,” the report notes.

On Jan. 14, police applied for a warrant for Ricciardi’s arrest, charging him with one count of risk of injury to or impairing the morals of a child and one count of second-degree breach of peace. The warrant was approved on Jan. 17, and Ricciardi was arrested at his Manchester home without incident.

He was released after posting his court-set bond of $40,000, and is due to appear in Hartford Superior Court on Jan. 30, 2025.

In his Jan. 19 letter, Berger told parents that the school will not be initiating conversations with students about Ricciardi, but if they hear students talking, “we will respond that we don’t know the whole story, and that we are just happy they have great teachers in place… We do believe that it is important to reinforce the general, important, and always-relevant message that their bodies are their own, and that no one should touch them without their permission. We plan to reinforce this with them.”

Regarding the school’s hiring practices and protocols, Berger stated in his letter that: “We always conduct a background check, including checking references and state and federal criminal records, before hiring anyone at Schechter. Our training includes a review of our roles as Mandated Reporters, and this training informed our quick responses throughout.”

Anyone with additional information related to this investigation is asked to contact West Hartford Police at 860-523-5203 or via the anonymous tip line 860-570-8969 or email [email protected].

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