Crime & Safety
Retired Oswego Teacher Charged With Arranging for Sex With Teen
Donald McDowell, who taught at Traughber and Thompson junior highs, was charged in Wisconsin on Tuesday with attempting to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex, and with child pornography possession.
A retired teacher is facing charges after he was caught in Wisconsin attempting to meet up with a 14-year-old girl for sex.
Donald P. McDowell, 65, of the 500 block of Danbury Drive in Oswego, was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court in Wisconsin on Thursday with one count of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, and one count of possession of child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 65 years in prison and $200,000 in fines.
McDowell told police that he is a retired junior high school math teacher. Oswego School District officials confirmed that McDowell taught at from 1970 to 1977, and transferred to Thompson when it was built in 1977. He worked there until the 2002-2003 school year, and also coached basketball and volleyball. He went by D. Paul McDowell, officials said.
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According to the criminal complaint, a Waukesha Police Department detective was working undercover as a 14-year-old girl in an Internet chat room on June 1 when he made contact with McDowell. McDowell asked for pictures of the girl, which the detective sent him. McDowell then sent pictures back, police said.
The two talked again on June 3 and 4 and eventually agreed to meet at a Waukesha hotel to have sex and film it. McDowell asked if the girl was a police officer, but the detective assured him he wasn’t.
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McDowell made reservations at the hotel, and showed up Tuesday, police said. He checked in and then left, but was pulled over shortly afterward by police. Inside his car were found condoms, Viagra pills, sexual paraphernalia, and a laptop computer which contained images of child pornography, police said.
McDowell told police he was supposed to meet with a man named Tim, and had arranged to have sex with his daughter. He said he thought about cancelling the rendezvous on the ride, and didn’t plan to have sex with the girl, but continued to Waukesha so he could see what kind of man Tim was, according to police.
McDowell is currently being held in Waukesha County Jail on $100,000 bond.
District 308 officials said they received no complaints or reports of this nature pertaining to McDowell while he worked for the district.
