Chanhassen High principal admits being drawn to images of preteen girls, charges say

Charges were filed Thursday against the principal of Chanhassen High School for allegedly possessing child pornography depicting young girls.

Timothy Dorway, 44, appeared late Thursday morning for a bail hearing in Carver County District Court in Chaska on seven felony counts of possessing child porn videos. According to the charges, he had been involved in such behavior for a decade.

Agents with the state's internet Crimes Against Children Task Force acted on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and arrested Dorway at his home Tuesday. He remained jailed Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bail and ahead of another court appearance on Dec. 23.

Prosecutor Angella Erickson alleged during the bail hearing that he had been engaging in this conduct for 10 years.

In admitting to investigators that he has viewed child pornography, Dorway said he's drawn to images of girls ages 11 to 13, according to the criminal complaint.

He said he uses Dropbox file sharing capabilities on the internet to receive links to child porn videos from other people, the complaint read. At times, he would save the links to his own Dropbox account and delete the videos later, the court filing continued.

At least once, the charges read, Dorway's Dropbox account was accessed through an internet provider address associated with a School District device. The district said Dorway did not use district money to buy a Dropbox account. Dropbox is not a software provided to employees, according to the district.

The county attorney's office declined to say more about the case beyond what is spelled out in the complaint, including the origin and the timing of the tip leading authorities to Dorway. The office also refused to say whether Dorway had any personal association with the children in the videos.

The court on Thursday ordered that Dorway have no unsupervised contact with minors and not use the internet or possess devices with internet access. Erickson said there are concerns for Dorway's personal safety and mental health due to the charges against him.

Dorway has three children and lives across the street from the Victoria Recreation Center and a large park. Dorway's attorney, John Conard, said Dorway's family told police he has not had inappropriate contact with children and did not wish him to be barred from having contact with children.

He and his ex-wife were granted joint legal custody of their children, who were 12, 15 and 17 at the time of their divorce in 2014.

A shackled Dorway arrived in the courtroom Thursday with his head down. At one point, he turned to see who was sitting in the public seating behind him.

His arrest followed a search of his home in Victoria and at the high school where he has been principal since 2010. The school opened in 2009.

Dorway has been on leave since his arrest.

The Eastern Carver County School District said the case involves none of its students.

The Sheriff's Office is assisting with the investigation, and the district is conducting its own inquiry.

Dorway began teaching English, journalism and speech in 1995 at Park High School in Cottage Grove, where he worked until 2002. During that time, he also supervised yearbook, newspaper and speech students and coached football and baseball. He went on to serve as Owatonna High School principal from July 2002 to June 2006. Dorway was employed by the Rochester School District from July 2007 to June 2010. Before moving to Chanhassen High School, he had been principal at Rochester Mayo High School.

Beatrice.Dupuy@startribune.com • 612-673-1707