SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — The Dane County District Attorney plans to file charges against the former principal of Sun Prairie West High School for failing to report incidents of child abuse.
The Sun Praire Police Department recommended the charges against Jennifer Ploeger after investigating two separate incidents at the high school.
The first resulted in 30-year-old Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier of Madison being charged with 13 federal felony counts of possession of child pornography and two felony counts of child sexual exploitation. The former dean of students at Sun Prairie West High School was arrested on July 24, 2025. The district says Gilkey-Meisegeier was terminated on June 9, 2025.
Ploeger was fired after this incident, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction investigated several district staffers’ licenses.
The second incident came from allgeations against a different teacher in January 2025, where multiple students reported observing the teacher engaging in “physical contact and sexual conversations involving students”. Ploeger investigated, the school initiated a Title IX investigation, and the victim ultimately decided not to press criminal charges. The teacher involved was reassigned away from the district.
The Sun Prairie Area School District board released the findings from an independent investigation into both incidents on January 6, 2026. The findings concluded that “[s]chool-level and district-level administrators failed to recognize Title IX obligations, which…resulted in insufficient investigations into serious allegations. Investigative practices were poor, with limited interviews, lack of documentation, and an HR-centric approach that was not primarily focused on the students involved. Communication breakdowns allowed key information…to go unaddressed”.
It also called into question the leadership of then-principal Ploeger and Director of School Operations Bridget Kotarak. “While [there was] no evidence of malicious intent or mandatory reporting violations, the failures in judgment and process were significant and raise serious concerns about the ability of Ploeger and Kotarak to maintain credibility and effectiveness in their roles going forward.”
Sun Prairie Police Chief Kevin Warych said, “Wisconsin law is very clear. When abuse or neglect is suspected, report[ing] it to law enforcement or Child Protective Services is mandatory, not discretionary. We rely on schools to be partners in protecting children. Parents must know that their children are safe at school. Students must know adults will act when concerns arise. Educators and administrators must know that mandated reporting laws exist to protect children.”
Ploeger’s attorney Jason Luczak claims Ploeger is innocent of all the pending charges. “We agree with the independent investigators’ conclusions that no mandatory reporting violations occurred. There was no finding of any criminal law violations, including any failures to report under the mandatory reporting laws.”
Luczak says Ploeger did fully cooperate with all investigations, and plans to fight the charges.
