An Arizona elementary school principal was arrested on multiple charges on Tuesday after he made an online post about hosting a ‘skinny dipping’ pool party, inviting teenage girls to attend.
The New York Post reports that Karl Waggoner, 59, is charged with luring a minor for sexual exploitation and aggravated luring/misrepresenting his age following an investigation of his online activity, sparked by an ad inviting teenage girls to come to a pool party in Scottsdale.
“Our sex crimes detective conducted an undercover investigation, posing as a 14-year-old girl, after spotting one of Waggoner’s ads,” Arizona law enforcement said in a press release obtained by CBS 5.
“During the course of the investigation, Waggoner engaged in sexually inappropriate conversations, discussed engaging in sexual acts with our undercover detective and provide sexually explicit photos.”
Waggoner had reportedly been hired just two months ago to serve as principal of Four Peaks Elementary School in Apache Junction.
“Even up until this weekend, Mr. Waggoner was posting ads online soliciting young girls for sex,” Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb told CBS 5.
“This is an absolute violation of trust that we as parents put in our school systems and our educational systems. When we send our kids to school we want to know that they’re protected and they’re not being preyed upon,” Lamb said.
CBS 5 obtained the letter sent to parents of students at Four Peaks Elementary school:
Dear Parents,
There is some information that I would like to share with you as our partner in education. Early this morning, Karl Waggoner, the Principal at Four Peaks Elementary School, was arrested by the Pinal County Sherriff’s Office as part of a criminal investigation. The Apache Junction Unified School District is cooperating with law enforcement agencies as they investigate the matter.
In Mr. Waggoner’s absence, Chad Cantrell, the Assistant Principal at Cactus Canyon Junior High, and the District’s Athletic Director, will serve as the acting Principal. Mr. Cantrell is a well-respected educator, administrator, and member of the community and will provide excellent leadership to students and staff.
Mr. Waggoner is a recent hire who relocated from Texas. Prior to offering Mr. Waggoner his position the District conducted all background checks required by law and found no prior arrests or criminal history.
The District is committed to the safety and well-being of our students. Each school has a behavior coach/counselor onsite that is available to students, and we encourage students to reach out to their counselor as needed.
Although we have no reason to believe that Mr. Waggoner engaged in any improper conduct with District students, should you or your child have any information that you believe will assist the Pinal County Sheriff’s office with its investigation, please directly contact the Sheriff’s office, at (520) 866-5111. If you have other questions regarding this letter, please contact Sally Marks, Public Relations Specialist, at (480) 982-1110 or email smarks@goaj.org.
Sincerely,
Sally Marks Public Relations Specialist, Apache Junction Unified School District
No bond information for the subject was available at the time of publication.
Feature photo: Pinal County Sheriff
