CHIMACUM — The principal of Chimacum High School was arrested and jailed Monday for investigation of voyeurism accusations after pictures of a Chimacum School District student were discovered on his school-issued laptop computer, Jefferson County Undersheriff Tim Perry said.

Rex Whipple, 41, who lives on Schooner Lane in Port Ludlow, was booked without bail in the Jefferson County jail about 1 p.m. Monday pending an appearance today in Jefferson County Superior Court.

Chimacum School District Superintendent Mike Blair on Monday said he placed Whipple on administrative leave Sunday after he heard about the allegations.

“It does involve one family, and we, of course, are in support of that family, and one minor,” said Blair, adding that he was “really caught off guard, really shocked.”

“There’s never been any situation with him along these lines,” Blair said.

Whipple, hired five years ago as high school principal, is scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. today in Jefferson County Superior Court in Port Townsend to face the voyeurism charge, said county Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell.

An unnamed person found images of a girl younger than 16 on Whipple’s school district laptop computer while the principal was on vacation in Arizona last week, Perry said.

“They’re pictures taken clandestinely of a minor, so the minor didn’t know they were being taken,” said Perry.

“It appears that allegations against Mr. Whipple were totally unrelated to his duties at [Chimacum High] school.