Missouri teacher accused of extorting two Iowa teens

A man who has described himself online as “a husband, father of three, a JH math teacher, a head XC coach and a Distance Track coach and Follower of Christ” faces five felony charges and up to 30 years in prison for allegedly blackmailing two 16-year-old Muscatine girls for explicit footage between January and April 2020.

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Chad Alan Craghead, 44, of Fulton, Mo., was arrested June 16 in Missouri on charges related to his alleged production of child pornography and extortion of two girls in Muscatine. An indictment was returned June 9 charging him with two counts of production of child pornography, cyberstalking, and two counts of interstate communications with intent to extort. He has no previous criminal record.

Craghead had posed as a teen boy online and obtained nude images of a 16-year-old girl from Muscatine, the news release said. After obtaining those images, he created another false identity and demanded additional nude photos of the subject, threatening to disseminate the images he already had to her friends and family if she did not comply. The release said Craghead extorted her over several months.

The girl’s cousin, also a 16-year-old girl, tried to help her. Craghead extorted the cousin too, threatening to disseminate the initial girl’s images if the cousin did not comply with his demands for nude photos and videos. The cousin complied.

The FBI assisted Muscatine police in the investigation. Through several Snapchat accounts associated Craghead, they found a number of other girls across the country, some as young as 13, who had sent him nude images or from whom Craghead extorted or attempted to extort nude images.

According to a Facebook post from the Callaway County, Mo., Sheriff’s Office, the department assisted the FBI with the investigation and arrest. Craghead was immediately remanded into federal custody and transported to an out-of-county facility. Before federal charges were filed, law enforcement contacted school administrators, and Craghead did not return to the district.

If convicted, Craghead faces a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence.