Do Not Talk About Joliet Grade School Janitor's Arrest: Eisenhower Academy Principal Urges Parents

JOLIET, IL — Joliet Patch has obtained a copy of the email sent out on Friday night by veteran Eisenhower Academy principal Nicole Bottigliero to families and parents at her Joliet grade school building, after Patch published stories about Thursday afternoon's child pornography arrest of Jeremy Ledesma, who works as the custodian at Eisenhower Academy.

Will County court records indicate the three crimes involving child pornography happened in February 2025; Ledesma's house in Plainfield was raided by the Will County Sheriff's Office at the end of September. Furthermore, Friday's petition to deny pretrial release submitted by the Will County State's Attorney's Office also noted that Ledesma made four different videos filming children on the playground at Eisenhower Academy elementary school and the four videos were filmed from inside the janitor's office at the Joliet school building.

Ledesma is now being kept in the Will County Jail, and he will appear in Courtroom 405 on Tuesday for his pretrial detention hearing. Prosecutors are asking that Will County's judges keep Ledesma incarcerated under the Illinois SAFE-T-Act while his child pornography case proceeds to trial.

At Friday morning's court appearance, Ledesma filled out court documents listing Joliet Public School District 86 as his current employer and that he makes around $2,400 per month as a custodian. At the time of their Sept. 30 search warrant, sheriff's detectives confiscated a silicone sex toy from Ledesma's basement bedroom that was the approximate age of a small child, prosecutors revealed.

At 6:08 p.m. on Friday, Eisenhower's principal sent out her email message to parents, in both English and Spanish. Bottigliero's email did not mention Ledesma by name.

"I am aware that some of you may have seen or heard recent media reports involving a custodial staff member," Nicole Bottigliero wrote. "I want to acknowledge the concern this may cause and provide clarity where I am able. Please know that this individual has not been in the building since last October and the charges mentioned in the article are related to a weekend in February, when school was not in session.

"The safety and well-being of our students and staff is, and will always be, our top priority."

The last portion of the principal's email communication to Eisenhower parents asked them to refrain from talking with other people about the case.

"I ask that we refrain from speculation or discussion of this matter with students, families or one another, and that any questions or concerns be directed to the administration," Bottigliero wrote. "I am in close communication with the district administration, and they will work with us along the way to ensure we have what we need to support our students, staff and families during this time.

"Thank you for continuing to focus on supporting our students."

According to Bottigliero's principal biography, Eisenhower Academy was the proud recipient of the National Blue Ribbon School award in 2016 and 2022 and Eisenhower Academy has served as a magnet school in District 86 since 1980. The school enrolls about 230 students in grades one through five. Admission is application-based and open to students residing within District 86 who demonstrate average or above-average academic achievement and exhibit positive behavior.

After Bottigliero's message to the Eisenhower parents was circulated Friday night on the Joliet Patch Facebook page, other readers responded to it.

"The school is making it even worse," a Patch reader named Tom responded, drawing 24 likes to his comment. "The incident he was charged with was in Feb. when school was not in session? Ask for clarification on that immediately. One of the events says he is recording children on the school playground. That happened in February? I highly doubt it. Don't trust anything the school says. That's a whole bunch of weasel words right there, because they are more worried about covering up their mistake now.

"For example, he hasn't been in the building since October, but he's still employed there? Sounds like the school knew of this months ago and still chose not to tell anyone."

Another Patch reader named Elise remarked, "I need the parents to come together, call the news and demand answers. As a parent this is frustrating and scary. My first question is, how did they allow him to continue to work around children?"

Patch reader Kathleen wrote, "Being that they started investigating him last May. He should have been removed from his position working with children while under investigation. No excuses to leave a suspected pedophile on the job around innocent children."

According to the prosecution's court documents filed Friday at the Will County Courthouse, the Will County Sheriff's Office, last May 21, received a cybertip related to a Snapchat user possibly uploading child pornography. Snapchat provided the phone number, date of birth and username that belonged to Jeremy Ledesma. One of the photos obtained by the Will County Sheriff's detectives from Snapchat contained two prepubescent boys sitting against each other exposing themselves, that photo was uploaded on Feb. 16, 2025, according to Ledesma's pretrial detention petition.

For parents and Joliet residents who are interested in talking more about Ledesma's arrest and his employment status at Eisenhower Academy, the next regular meeting for the District 86 school board is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 14 at the J.F. Kennedy Administrative Center on Raynor Avenue.