Parents at a Utah charter school have expressed outrage after the school's director was arrested on charges of possessing and potentially producing child pornography. Jared Dallan Buckley, 40, lead director of the Leadership Learning Academy in Layton and Ogden, was taken into federal custody on Tuesday.
According to court documents, investigators discovered between 10,000 and 50,000 images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on a phone found in Buckley's vehicle. Some images allegedly depicted children as young as infants. The investigation began in October 2024 when New York authorities alerted Utah officials to a suspicious internet account named 'EMMA' that was sharing CSAM on a known app.
Buckley, who has worked with children in kindergarten through sixth grade since 2014, is also involved with local youth sports organisations. He is being held without bail at the Davis County Jail, with prosecutors describing him as 'a danger to every child in the community'.
Parent Nancy Burns told ABC 4 News she was shocked by the news, saying Buckley seemed 'super nice' and that her children had compared other principals to him. Buckley faces charges of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor.
