Charter school leader had thousands of child porn images in Utah, feds say
A charter school leader in Utah is accused of having thousands of child pornography images and videos, federal prosecutors said.
Jared Dallan Buckley, 40, lead director of Leadership Learning Academy’s Ogden and Layton campuses, also “represented online that he could produce and distribute to others for profit,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah said in an April 24 news release.
Buckley is charged with possession of child pornography and was scheduled to make an initial appearance in court April 25, prosecutors said.
Defense attorney information for Buckley wasn’t immediately available.
Kimberlee McClellan, a Leadership Learning Academy principal, said in an April 28 email to McClatchy News that Buckley was put on administrative leave immediately after law enforcement contacted the academy about the allegations. His access to school property and systems also was revoked, she said.
Investigators in October began trying to find a person going by “Emma” online, “who was using an application known to be used by people interested in child sexual abuse material,” according to the complaint. “Emma” distributed an explicit video of a young girl amid the investigation and said they had original child sexual abuse material content available “to others for a price,” the complaint said.
Investigators linked “Emma” to a phone number associated with Buckley, from West Point, and they “found well over 10,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material” on a cellphone retrieved from his truck, prosecutors said.
The cell “also revealed evidence that Buckley has been distributing” child sexual abuse material via online platforms, prosecutors said.
Leadership Learning Academy serves children in kindergarten through sixth grade, prosecutors said.
This story was originally published April 25, 2025 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Charter school leader had thousands of child porn images in Utah, feds say."
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