James Neujahr (Outagamie Co. Jail)
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Former high school band director James Neujahr was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison after being convicted of 20 counts of child pornography possession.
Neujahr was also placed on extended supervision for seven years, and was placed on the sex offender registry by Judge Yadira Rein.
Before the sentence was issued, Neujahr, 64, apologized, highlighting the victim impact statements.
“I apologize knowing that, because of my viewing, they are victimized again and again through no fault of their own,” he said. “As much as I, in the past, felt a disconnect to these children, and in a way, they didn’t seem real, the impact statements prove that they are indeed real human beings who need and deserve our respect, love, and protection.”
Neujahr also apologized to the Fox Valley Lutheran High School community, where he taught.
According to the criminal complaint, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children tipped the Appleton Police Department about child pornography images which had been sent online. The three files contained two photos showing naked children.
Police went to Neujahr’s home. He “indicated that he couldn’t lie or avoid the fact that he has had a lot of searching over the years,” the complaint states.
Neujahr said his computer would have multiple images, many of which were years old.
Sgt. Danoski reports that he reviewed the contents of the external hard drive seized from James’ residence and Sgt. Danoski describes, below, 20 of the image files taken from the external hard drive. Sgt. Danoski reports that in total he would estimate there were approximately 2000 files found on the external hard drive that appeared to be Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)/Child Pornography,” the complaint states.
There are no allegations involving any students from Fox Valley Lutheran High School, or any students from the other schools and organizations Neujahr has served, FVL said.
After the charges were filed, the school terminated his employment.
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