Buckeye Union High School Principal Joseph Kinney was arrested on suspicion of luring a juvenile for sexual exploitation, according to court filings.
The Buckeye Union High School District announced on Tuesday that Kinney had been placed on administrative leave after becoming the focus of an unrelated inquiry.
According to court documents, an FBI task force that specializes in internet crimes involving children began investigating Kinney on July 22 when an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old girl on the anonymous social media app Whisper received a response from a user named “Macabre Pure” after posting about being bored and asking what she should do.
According to documents, the user advised the girl to take her clothes off and said he didn’t mind her age, even though the agent stated she was just 12. According to records, the agent provided Kinney with a photo of a clothed, age-regressed image of a young girl, to which Kinney reacted with two full-body photos of himself wearing clothing.
According to documents, Kinney and the undercover agent continued their communication, with the agent stating that she was in Oregon visiting her grandmother and was bored. According to documents, Kinney responded by saying he would love to “rescue her” and perform different sexual activities on her. Kinney reportedly asked the agent acting as the girl to send him nude images of herself, to which the agent responded that she does not send such types of photos but did provide another photo of a young girl wearing clothes.
According to records, the call continued on July 23, when Kinney informed the agent that he was at work. The conversation stopped when the agent inquired whether he had a fun job.
According to documents, investigators issued a subpoena for Whisper to give subscriber information for the Macabre Pure account, as well as IP addresses associated with Kinney’s Cox Communications and Verizon accounts. On an unspecified day, FBI investigators served a search warrant at Kinney’s Goodyear residence.
According to documents, officers stopped Kinney at 7:18 a.m. Tuesday just west of Elliot and San Miguel roads in Goodyear and arrested him. Police confiscated Kinney’s phone, and a forensic scan revealed that the Whisper software had been installed but had been uninstalled.
According to records, police escorted Kinney back to his home and interviewed him in a Phoenix police mobile command unit stationed outside. Kinney told police that he had used Whisper on his phone and liked how it “seemed like fantasy and was anonymous.”
According to documents, Kinney claimed to have spoken with several girls on Whisper who told him they were young, but he assumed they were all adults role-playing. Kinney recalled conversing with one girl who claimed to be nine years old, but he suspected she was an adult since the photo she showed him was older than a girl her age, according to records.
Kinney also admitted to having sexualized chats with a girl who claimed to be 12, but emphasized that he thought she was an adult and that it was just “role-playing and fantasy chat,” according to records.
According to records, Kinney informed law enforcement that he had no sexual attraction to children and would never sexually assault one. According to documents, Kinney informed officers that he felt dumb and embarrassed about his behavior.
Kinney was brought into jail on one count of luring a juvenile for sexual exploitation, a Class 3 felony, and held on a $60,000 bond. His next court appearance was scheduled for September 10 in Maricopa County Superior Court.
The Buckeye district stated in a news release “Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot share further details at this time.” Our primary goal is to provide our pupils with a great educational experience.
According to district rules, Kinney was placed on administrative leave. Kristin Koke, an associate principal, was named interim principal of the high school.
