Former Jamestown teacher sentenced to prison in minor abuse case

Former Jamestown teacher Michael Romans will spend 30 months in prison and then five years on supervised probation, a sentence that lands not just as punishment for one man but as another blow to trust in two institutions built around children and the public. For former students, parents and school staff, the case leaves behind a painful reminder that a teacher and volunteer who moved through everyday life in Jamestown was later tied to the sexual abuse of a former student.

Romans was sentenced May 5 in Southeast District Court after pleading guilty Jan. 21 to corruption or solicitation of minors, a Class C felony. The sentence also requires him to pay $1,800 in restitution. He received credit for 148 days already served, including 127 days in confinement and 21 days of good time.

Jamestown police arrested Romans, who was 45 at the time, on Dec. 29, 2025, after allegations surfaced about a sexual relationship with a Jamestown Public Schools student over roughly one to two years. He was booked into the Stutsman County Correctional Center. Court records say he had been facing a preliminary hearing on Jan. 21 before entering his guilty plea that day.

The community damage stretches beyond the courtroom because Romans was not only a classroom figure. He taught at Gussner Elementary School and also volunteered as a firefighter for the City of Jamestown before his arrest. Jamestown Public Schools placed him on administrative leave after the allegations surfaced, and the Jamestown Public School Board unanimously accepted his resignation on Jan. 19.

Court documents say the victim first met Romans when she was in fourth grade at Gussner Elementary School, later babysat for him and was tutored by him. The alleged abuse, according to reporting, occurred between 2014 and 2017, when she was 16 and 17. Those details have sharpened concern in Jamestown about how adults in trusted roles gain access to children, how warning signs are handled, and how quickly schools and law enforcement move when allegations emerge.

Romans’ conviction closes one criminal case, but the larger question for Jamestown remains how to protect students when a trusted adult is accused of crossing the line between mentorship and abuse.