United States Attorney Matthew D. Krueger of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on September 15, 2020, David A. Hay, 40, most recently of Brooklyn, New York, entered a guilty plea to a charge of receiving child pornography. Most recently, Hay served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the New York City Chancellor of Schools.

According to court filings, in May of 2010, while living and employed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, David A. Hay exchanged emails with a 15-year-old child. During the course of these communications, the defendant received sexually explicit digital images and videos from the child. Hay also provided sexually explicit images of himself to the 15-year-old.

Hay was principal at Tomah High School from 2011 through 2014. Prior to that, Hay was principal at Kettle Moraine High School from 2008 through 2011 before resigning following the school district’s discovery of irregularities with Hay’s licensing and the misuse of a district credit card.

Hay faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years of incarceration in federal prison when he is sentenced in Green Bay’s Federal District Court on December 18, 2020.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006, by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the City of Neenah Police Department with the assistance of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel R. Humble.