Wisc. High School Dean Charged with Sex Crimes Against Children, Possession of Child Pornography By Sean Neumann

Parents at a Wisconsin high school are lashing out at the local institution after the school’s dean was arrested last month and charged with child pornography and sex crimes against children, according to a new report.

NBC News reported that parents at Sun Prairie West High School in Sun Prairie, Wisc., spoke out recently after the school’s former dean of students Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier was arrested late last month and charged with 49 counts of possession of child pornography as well as two counts of the sexual exploitation of a child.

Gilkey-Meisegeier, 30, was arrested on July 24, and also faces charges for alleged failure to report abused or neglected children as a school administrator, according to a news release from the Sun Prairie Police Department.

NBC News reported that Gilkey-Meisegeier is the fourth person who worked at Sun Prairie West High School to be accused of sex crimes against children within the last 10 years.

“Parents are very outraged right now, because if not now, when?” said parent Kristy Yang, according to the outlet. “When are we going to do something about it? I don’t want to wait until it’s my kid.”

Local WMTV, WKOW, and Spectrum News reported that the 30-year-old former dean of students is due back in court on Sept. 2 for an arraignment hearing. He is currently being held on a $75,000 bond, according to Spectrum News.

Gilkey-Meisegeier was fired from his position at the school in early June and wasn’t arrested until more than a month later as investigators combed through evidence and built charges against him, according to WMTV.

Per WKOW, at an earlier court appearance this month, detectives told the court that Gilkey-Meisegeier had images in a locked folder on his phone that depicted victims as young as 12 years old at the time the photos were taken.

NBC News reported that, according to a criminal complaint against the former school administrator, a senior student in the school district had tried to warn the school district about Gilkey-Meisegeier’s behavior towards a young female student in April, writing in an anonymous letter that the dean had been “constantly hovering” over the other student, had followed her on social media, was driving her and texting with her.

“I am deeply concerned about the appropriateness of their relationship,” the student reportedly wrote in their letter to district officials, according to the criminal complaint, per NBC.

However, per NBC News, the school district found the allegations to be “unsubstantiated” at the time. The outlet reported that another school official became aware of Gilkey-Meisegeier’s alleged inappropriate behavior one month later, which per the criminal complaint, allegedly involved at least three underage victims.

Sun Prairie police said a former school staff member had notified authorities about the allegations against Gilkey-Meisegeier in early June, leading to his arrest about a week later.

“This investigation has taken considerable time due to the number of victims, the volume of digital evidence, the complexity of the case, and the coordination required among law enforcement agencies,” the police department said in its news release after the former dean’s arrest last month. “Officers and detectives will continue to investigate to determine whether additional charges will be filed. The safety of our children is our highest priority. We want to assure the Sun Prairie community that we will hold individuals accountable for threats or crimes against children and work to prevent future harm.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.