Court filing sheds light on federal charges against former Altoona superintendent
Jun. 29—EAU CLAIRE — Defending a former Altoona schools superintendent against federal child sex trafficking charge, an attorney is asking prosecutors to provide greater detail in their accusations as the case nears a trial.
Attorney Joseph Bugni filed a pretrial motion on Friday asking the U.S. District Court to require a bill of particulars with specific dates and actions tied to a charge that Daniel Peggs had trafficked a 17-year-old girl.
"None of this information is set out in the indictment," Bugni wrote. "And without this information, the defense cannot prepare for the trial — we have no sense of what to expect in the way of evidence establishing these instances or how to defend against them, particularly a months' long alibi."
The indictment lists a time frame of October 2015 to May 2016, which is based on evidence of Peggs' relationship with a then-17-year-old girl identified as Jane Doe in court documents.
But Peggs was not the only man she was having sex with at the time and Bugni states the trafficking charge could be related to actions of other people she'd been seeing.
"After sifting through the discovery, it's the defense's theory that Doe has confused (or conflated) her behavior with other men and attributed it to Peggs," Bugni wrote. "Nothing in the discovery substantiates her allegations. And when investigators have looked to back them up (and they've looked), the evidence has pointed to other actors."
The attorney states the trafficking charge against Peggs is based upon him getting money from other men to rent a hotel room where they had sex with Doe — but not to pay her for sex.
The next court date in Peggs' case will be a status conference scheduled for July 7.
Bugni's filing is the first publicly available document showing how the former school administrator met Doe and how the case is related to another one in North Carolina.
The teenager had lived a tragic life and turned to using recreational drugs and posting ads for anonymous sex with older men while she was still a minor, Bugni writes. Among the men she met was Bryan Ragon, a North Carolina IT worker who was also part of a traveling theater troupe. Their relationship turned into one where Ragon would have Doe have sex with other men and record it so he could watch the video. Between Ragon and Doe, the estimates of different men she had sex with and filmed varied from 60 to over 80, Bugni stated in his filing.
Ragon and Doe posted ads on Craigslist at the same time that Peggs, who was principal of Altoona Middle School before becoming superintendent in July 2019, was engaging in extramarital activities.
"Working as a principal, he was married with children, and a serial philanderer," Bugni's motion stated. "The discovery reveals numerous affairs: some long term, others were one-night stands or a series of seemingly random encounters."
Using the pseudonym Jake Thompson, Peggs replied to one of Doe's ads on Craigslist in October 2015. Peggs rented a hotel room one night to have sex with Doe, and two additional men came to the same room that evening to also have sex with her. Doe recorded the group sex and sent the video to Ragon. The same thing happens a week later. On this occasion, Doe showed Peggs a realistic fake ID she'd made to claim she's over 18 and she told him she is a teacher's aide. He replied that he is a principal, but at this point neither divulged their real names.
Peggs and Doe also met to have sex during the next two months, according to Bugni's motion.
The two exchanged flirtatious text messages in January, including one where Doe sends a photo of her bare breasts to Peggs.
Peggs invited Doe to stay with him in early February 2016 when he was at a certification course in the Wisconsin Dells. During this trip they learned each other's true identities and ages, which leads Peggs to break off contact with Doe. However, the two reunite at a hotel in July 2016 after Doe has turned 18, but then have increasingly less contact. Their last conversation was a brief text message exchange in April 2018 when Peggs asks to meet, but Doe declines.
As an adult, Doe posted ads on Craigslist for prostitution and group sex, but decided in November 2018 to tell police about her situation.
When she met with police, Doe brought notes with names, addresses, dates and other information about the numerous men she was sexually involved with in 2015 to '16.
In addition to former boyfriend Ragon, the investigator was interested in "the superintendent" that Doe said she'd been involved with.
The investigation led up to Peggs' arrest on Feb. 21 in Altoona — one day after Ragon was arrested in Charlotte, N.C.
The Altoona school board canceled Peggs' superintendent contract the following month. His wife divorced him last year.
Peggs, 34, had been under house arrest when the case began, but a judge decided in May that he is not a flight risk and allowed him to seek work while living in pre-approved housing in the Madison area while the case is pending.
In July 2020, Ragon pleaded guilty to one count in the case against him — transportation of a minor — but online court records do not show a sentence being handed down yet.
Peggs was indicted last year on six counts — one for sex trafficking, two for producing child pornography and three for possession of child pornography.
Child pornography charges include videos that Doe took with her iPhone of her having sex with Peggs that were then sent to Ragon. Other charges are for nude images that Doe sent to Peggs during text conversations.
One child pornography charge is for nude images of prepubescent children found on Peggs' computer when police searched it. However, a separate motion filed by Bugni states Peggs was likely not aware those images existed as they were buried inside a massive trove of music files he downloaded in 2008.
