El Dorado County principal accused of cybercrimes against children, DA’s office says

By Web Staff

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    EL DORADO COUNTY, California (KCRA) — An elementary school principal was arrested Tuesday and is accused of cybercrimes against children, according to the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office.

Boyd Holler, 37, was arrested on suspicion of four counts of sending “harmful matter to a minor,” and another count of “contacting or communicating with a minor for the purpose of engaging in lewd and lascivious behavior.”

Holler is the principal of the Pioneer Elementary School in Somerset and was arrested while leaving his home in Pollock Pines, the DA’s office said.

The DA’s office is still in the process of filing charges against Holler. He is expected to be arraigned on Thursday.

It’s unclear how many children are believed to be victims and where they are from.

Pioneer Union School District Superintendent Patrick Paturel said in a statement that the district was first notified about the arrest after the DA’s office publicly announced it on Tuesday.

The district has placed Holler on leave and Paturel vowed to work closely with law enforcement partners to support the investigation. The statement noted that all hires in the district go through a “thorough” federal background check.

He urged anyone with information related to the investigation to contact the DA’s office via a special section of their website.

“We understand that parents may have questions and we have set up a dedicated phone line for families in an effort to allow our classroom and other team members to focus on providing students with high-quality instruction,” Paturel said. “In the meantime, our focus is on continuing to provide a safe and high-quality educational environment for all of our students.”

Holler was previously a principal at Gold Trail School, the Gold Trail Union School District confirmed.

Dustin North, a parent with two children at Holler’s school, told KCRA 3 news of the principal’s arrest was “shocking” and “strange.” He said he has many questions about the investigation and who the principal’s alleged victims are.

“Small school, small county, so it’s really hard to fathom that this would be going on around here,” North said.

According to a post on the El Dorado County Office of Education’s website, Holler has an extensive history of teaching in the county.

Prior to his role at Pioneer Elementary, he was hired to be the principal at Gold Trail School in the summer of 2017. Before that, he was a teacher at a school in Camino and later became the school’s administrator and assistant principal.

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