Superintendent charged with sex trafficking and filming child porn, Wisconsin feds say

A Wisconsin school superintendent has been arrested on charges of sex trafficking and producing child pornography, federal prosecutors say.

Daniel Peggs, the superintendent of Altoona School District, is accused of using a minor for a commercial sex act, according to a U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin news release.

Between October 2015 and May 2016, Peggs “recruited and maintained” the child knowing she would be used for sex, prosecutors said. He filmed the girl engaging in “sexually explicit conduct” using an iPhone in December 2015, prosecutors said.

The child was not a student in the Altoona School District, prosecutors said.

Peggs was arrested Thursday morning while driving to school, Altoona school board president Robin Elvig told the Leader-Telegram.

“Utter shock is an understatement,” Elvig told the newspaper. “I’m still in shock.”

Peggs, 32, was hired as superintendent of the school district east of Eau Claire in July, school officials said.

Students learned of the charges during a special assembly Thursday morning, WEAU reported. Peggs will be put on administrative leave, WEAU reported.

The investigation was part of an initiative named Project Safe Childhood intended to “combat child sexual exploitation and abuse,” officials said.

This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Superintendent charged with sex trafficking and filming child porn, Wisconsin feds say."