WISCONSIN — A high-ranking New York City education official arrested at Mitchell Airport over the weekend was trying to meet a 14-year-old boy for sexual activities, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
David A. Hay, 39, was charged with using a computer to attempt to persuade, induce or entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity and possession of child pornography.
Hay was arrested at the Mitchell International Airport on Sunday after an ongoing investigation. The Department of Justice said that Hay had begun messaging a person he believed to be a 14-year-old from Neenah in July 2019. Hay began engaging in sexually explicit conversations with the boy, who was actually a City of Neenah Police investigator.
After Hay was arrested, officials searched his phone and found sexually explicit images of a former Tomah High School student, where he was a principal from 2011 to 2014.
Hay was also a principal in Kettle Moraine School District from 2008 to 2011.
Hay was let go from Kettle Morraine in 2011 because he no longer held the necessary licensing and had also improperly used a district credit card.
"The district has no knowledge of any concerns that are of the nature of the investigation leading to the arrest of Mr. Hay," said Kettle Moraine School District Superintendent Patricia Deklotz. "We have been contacted by authorities investigating this matter and we are fully cooperating with their requests."
Hay faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to a lifetime of imprisonment if convicted of the first charge and up to 10 if convicted on the second.
The case was investigated by the City of Neenah Police Department, the Green Bay office of the FBI, and the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office.
