‘A danger to every child in the community:’ Charter school director accused of child porn production now facing federal charges

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A charter school director who is accused of producing and manufacturing child sex abuse material is now facing federal charges as new details come to light.

According to the new federal complaint, Jared Dullan Buckley, 40, allegedly was in possession of over 10,000 images of child sex abuse material (CSAM), which is colloquially referred to as child pornography, and was “represented online that he could produce and distribute to others for profit.”

Buckley, who has been placed on administrative leave, has been the Lead Director of a local Utah Charter school called Leadership Learning Academy since 2014, and according to court documents, is involved with several youth groups and sports teams.

The documents, provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City, say that the FBI began an investigation back in October of 2024 of an online persona known only as “EMMA.”

Using an application that is often used for the exchange of CSAM, “EMMA” allegedly distributed a video containing CSAM of a young girl and said that they had “original CSAM content” and could “produce and distribute to others for a price.”

After making contact with “EMMA” by telephone, officers were later allegedly able to trace the number back to Buckley. The FBI obtained three federal search warrants that were executed on April 22 by local law enforcement.

During the search, a cell phone was seized that allegedly contained an SD card that held “several hundred images” of CSAM material. Later analysis found between more than 10,000 images to as many as 50,000 images. Some of these images allegedly depicted children as young as infants.

According to the court documents, Buckley had allegedly distributed this material across several online platforms. It is not specified how long Buckley had allegedly been distributing or producing this material.

Buckley is currently being held on a no-bail warrant, and due to his position and evidence gathered, the documents say that Buckley “is a danger to every child in the community.” He currently is scheduled to appear before a federal judge for his initial appearance tomorrow, April 25 at 9:45 a.m.