Daniel Ott was placed on leave as authorities investigated online conversations and material allegedly found on his cellphone.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — A Missouri middle school assistant principal has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography after investigators said they found child sexual abuse material on his phone and examined online conversations in which he allegedly discussed children.
Daniel Ott, an assistant principal at Hollenbeck Middle School in the Francis Howell School District, was charged Friday with one count of possession of child pornography, according to the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. He was being held in the St. Charles County jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond. The district placed Ott on leave following his arrest and barred him from school campuses while the criminal investigation continues.
According to a probable cause statement cited by local news organizations, investigators reviewed conversations Ott allegedly had through the messaging platforms Kik and Telegram. Authorities said the conversations included discussions about the sexual abuse of children and references to Ott’s work as a middle school administrator. Investigators also alleged that Ott spoke explicitly about middle school girls. In one exchange documented by authorities, he allegedly wrote, “Some 8th graders are hot as hell.”
The probable cause statement also says investigators found multiple images of child sexual abuse material on Ott’s cellphone. Authorities have not publicly identified any children depicted in the material, and news reports did not indicate that investigators had connected those images to students in the Francis Howell School District. Prosecutors filed the possession count as a Class D felony. Ott has been charged but has not been convicted of the allegation.
Francis Howell Superintendent Mark Delaney informed families of the arrest in a letter. Delaney said Ott had served as an assistant principal at Hollenbeck Middle School since 2024 and had been immediately placed on leave. The superintendent said Ott would not be permitted at Hollenbeck or any other district campus while the matter is investigated.
Delaney told families there was no indication at the time that Hollenbeck Middle School students were involved in the alleged offenses. He called the accusations an extremely serious matter and said the school district was cooperating with law enforcement. The district also said student safety remained its highest priority while acknowledging limits on what officials could disclose during an active criminal investigation.
Ott had worked in other St. Louis-area school districts before joining Francis Howell. Spectrum News reported that he spent two years as an assistant principal at North Point Middle School in the Wentzville School District. Before that administrative role, he taught for eight years at Wentzville Middle School and five years at Ritenour Middle School.
The Wentzville School District also notified families after learning of Ott’s arrest. District officials said they had no information indicating the allegations were connected to Ott’s previous work there. No publicly reviewed evidence has established that students from his former schools were involved in the case.
Local reporting said the investigation focused in part on Ott’s alleged activity on private messaging services. The charging documents, as described by news outlets, accuse him of identifying himself as a middle school principal while taking part in conversations involving sexual references to minors. The charge and supporting allegations remain accusations that prosecutors would have to prove through the court process.
Authorities had not announced additional charges as of the latest reports, and no Hollenbeck student had been publicly identified as a victim in connection with the investigation. Ott remained on leave from the Francis Howell School District while the criminal case and law enforcement investigation continued.
Author note: Last updated September 7, 2026.