Fifth-grade teacher kept sexually touching girls despite warnings, charges say

A Twin Cities fifth-grade teacher sexually touched and made sexually suggestive comments to many girls in his class, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

Wayne Clifford Wallace, 63, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with five gross misdemeanor counts of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with his actions during the 2022-23 school year at Basswood Elementary School in Maple Grove.

The most common alleged behavior included touching girls on their buttocks and elsewhere, the complaint read.

Wallace, of Maple Grove, was charged by summons and is due in court March 11. Court records do not list an attorney for him. Messages were left with Wallace seeking his response to the charges.

Osseo school district spokeswoman Kay Villella said Wallace’s last day with the district was Dec. 19, 2023, around the time the allegations surfaced.

State records show Wallace’s teacher’s license remained active as of Thursday afternoon. He has been licensed to teach in Minnesota since 1985. The online records list no disciplinary actions taken against him by the state.

According to the complaint:

The Minnesota Department of Education alerted police in late 2023 to the allegations against Wallace, who had been warned twice previously about touching girls.

One girl said Wallace spanked her on multiple occasions. He touched another girl on the buttocks, ostensibly as a demonstration of static electricity.

Another student said Wallace touched her on the buttocks, thigh and shoulder, once after she said she was cold. One girl said she was touched inappropriately in the hall and in his class.

School personnel reached out to some of Wallace’s former female students and were told of him having girls sit on his lap, touching the inside of a girl’s waist band, demanding a kiss in exchange for candy, and whistling and commenting about a female student’s skirt.