Charges: School employee lost job after ex shared explicit photo with supervisor

A school employee was asked to resign from her position after her ex-husband, who is now facing criminal charges, shared an explicit photo with her boss.

Daniel Paul Sandmeyer, 41, of St. James, has been charged with two felony counts of nonconsensual, intentional dissemination of private sexual images in Watonwan County Court.

Court documents say Sandmeyer first contacted his ex-wife’s boss by email in December 2023 to report he’d received nude photos of her taken in the school bathroom during her workday.  He allegedly wrote in the email that his ex was “rude and cruel,” and threatened to bring the photo up to the school board if her boss wouldn’t do something about it.

A criminal complaint says Sandmeyer met with his ex’s boss and another witness in person on January 5 and showed them a photo on his phone.  The complaint says the victim was “clearly recognizable” in the photo, which showed both her face and her exposed breasts. The witness in the meeting told investigators that Sandmeyer seemed to be showing them the picture to get the victim to lose her job and talked about not being able to see his children or call them on their birthdays.

Sandmeyer allegedly emailed a cropped version of the photo after the meeting, asking his ex’s boss to say the photo was shared before November 9, a court date in which the victim had accused him of sharing photos.

On January 8, the victim reported to St. James Police that she had been asked to resign from her position at a school or be fired because Sandmeyer had shown the photo to her boss.  

The complaint says Sandmeyer continued to email the victim’s boss until January 16, including a January 9 email inquiring if he would be notified of the outcome of the meeting with the victim.

Police interviewed Sandmeyer, who initially denied sending a photo with any nudity or knowing anything about the victim losing her job. He eventually told investigators he had shown the photo because it was wrong she had taken it at school.  He claimed he no longer had the photo.

The complaint says an October no-contact order specifically prohibits Sandmeyer from calling or entering the victim’s workplace.  A court order was also issued in November prohibiting Sandmeyer from “disclosing intimate photographs and videos of the victim to any third party.”

Sandmeyer is also facing gross misdemeanor charges of violating a no-contact order and misdemeanor contempt of court.