Ex-city education honcho gets 5 years for kid porn

A former high-ranking education official will go from Tweed to the federal pen for possession of child porn.

Ex-Education Department deputy chief of staff David Hay was sentenced to five years in prison Friday in a Wisconsin Federal Court. An investigation following his bust by a cop posing as a 14-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr revealed Hay had enticed underage boys to send him explicit videos and photos since at least 2010, according to Judge William Griesbach. Hay served as principal at high schools in Wisconsin where he met his young victims.

“My struggles with alcohol and pornography took a dark turn and led to poor decisions,” Hay, 40, told the court, his voice trembling. “I can’t believe how I let my struggles get the best of me.”

Hay was hired by the city in 2016, earning $166,156 and interacting with Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza on a daily basis.

The undercover officer in Neenah, 100 miles north of Milwaukee, began a months-long dialogue with Hay over Grindr.

“Into daddies?” Hay allegedly asked in their first exchange on the dating app.

“Maybe, r u into young guys. I’m 14 not 18,” the undercover cop replied.

“Yea I’m good w that,” Hay replied.

The schools official backed out of an in-person encounter at the “whirlpool suite” of a hotel at the last minute but authorities arrested him anyway. A search of his phone found “sexually explicit photos” of a young male student in Wisconsin, prosecutors said after the arrest. Hay had conversations with victims as recently as last year, according to the judge.

“A person in Mr. Hay’s position, to engage in this behavior, is abominable, to tell the truth,” Judge Griesbach said.

Hay had not simply been involved in “passive receipt” of depraved images and videos, the judge said. Rather, Hay had “ongoing conversations and efforts to encourage sexually explicit conduct by these children.”

The shocking case is fodder for followers of the bizarre QAnon conspiracy theory involving a global underage sex trafficking scheme by the rich and powerful, Hay’s attorney Jonathan Smith said.

“That has created some interesting dialogue about him,” Smith said.

The hearing was conducted via video due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A report on Hay’s hiring by the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation uncovered flaws in the background check process.