By Dr. Lori Handrahan – BarbWire guest contributor
In 1990, American University’s president, Richard Berendzen, was calling day cares seeking sex with children when he contacted Susan Eva Allen; a mother operating a home-based day care whose husband was a detective with Fairfax County Police Department. A search warrant was obtained.
Susan Allen recorded more than 30 hours of conversation with Berendzen. He asked Susan Allen if “she and her husband included their children in sex” and begged to have sex with Susan Allen’s children. He told her he masturbated while talking with her and offered to procure a child for her to use as a “sex slave.”
He “described going to sex slave auctions in Chicago and Detroit,” bragged about his abuse of children, his child porn collection, the four year old girl who was his “sex slave” and strapping his wife to a wheel in their basement.
Professor Berendzen never spent a day in jail nor has he yet been investigated for child sex crimes.
In what appears to be clear obstruction of justice, American University protected Berendzen, his career and financial security.
Conspiracy to commit child rape and possession of child pornography are not “administrative” issues. These are criminal matters and must be prosecuted as such. There is no statute on limitation for child sex abuse crimes at the federal level. Professor Berendzen could still be and should be investigation.
The Personal is Political
This is personal for me. I was wrongly terminated from my position as a professor at American University when my publications calling for an end to impunity for child porn related crimes started gaining attention.
Articles like Enable the Fight Against Child Porn, To Catch Government Workers With Ties to Child Porn, Call the IRS, or Executive Branch Porn Problem and television interviews like Impunity for US Government Workers Using Child Porn always seemed to provoke a negative reaction from the president’s office. My dean was told none of my publications about ending impunity for child porn would be posted on the school’s website. The president’s office told American University’s media department not to “pitch” me for media interviews.
At the time, I was solely focused on US government employees involved in the illegal trade of child sex abuse images and videos, otherwise known as child pornography. I did not know about American University’s own history of protecting professors who were accused of committing crimes against children. After my contract was terminated, a colleague met me for lunch, off campus, and told me about Richard Berendzen.
Professors, University Staff and Child Porn
In my last article, Day Cares, Preschools, Baby-Sitters & Pedosadism, I explored recent arrests for child porn in day cares. Berendzen was calling day cares, for at least a year, seeking to both procure and offer children for sex abuse. I wondered if day cares were a known source supply for pedosadists like Professor Berendzen.
Professor Berendzen’s criminal activity also caused me to wonder how many other professors were involved in the trade of child sex abuse. Until American University, suddenly and without cause, terminated me, it had never occurred to me that my own colleagues, fellow professors, would be returning to their campus offices after teaching students and masturbating to the brutal rape and torture of small children from their campus computers.
Call me naive. I was.
I was horrified and deeply saddened the first time I did a simple Google search for “professor arrested child porn.” Unfortunately, it appears, trading in the illegal child porn industry is something far too many professors and university staff are involved in, often, on college and university campuses across America.
Search Method and Data Problems
As with my other articles, because both the US government and law enforcement is either not collecting and/or not releasing comprehensive information about child porn arrests and prosecutions, I have used simple Google and Twitter searches to locate public media reports of professors and staff arrested on child porn charges. When I could easily locate original court documents, I supplemented the media reports; however, often the court documents are sealed or otherwise not easily accessible. At times, I called local police departments or prosecutors requesting, but not always receiving, follow-up information.
The reports I share here are, by no means, a complete account of professors and staff arrested for child porn. These are, simply, what appears to be a very small representative sample. A snap-shot in time. This provide a sense of the scale of child porn use among professors and staff. I use the terms college and university interchangeably, for simplicity sake.
Many university and college students are also being arrested on trading child sex abuse charges. Arrest of students for child pornography will be detailed in a separate posting.
University & College Professors
• Michael Morris, a 50 year old Assistant Dean at the McIntire School of Commerce at University of Virginia (UVA) and father of two teenage daughters, was arrested and charged, 6 November 2013, on child porn charges.
Morris, whose on-line screen name was “funshooter2006,” was an “ultimate” account member of Gigatribe, a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing program, that he used to trade in “pre-teen hard core” (PTHC), which is the brutal torture of children under 12 years old. At the time of his arrest, Morris possessed some 4,000 images/videos of child sex abuse including the abuse of toddlers. He had been trading in child sex abuse for 15 years.
Morris was indicted on two counts of distributing or receiving child porn and one count of possessing child porn and plead guilty to all three charges on 21 April 2014. He was held in custody from the time of his arrest until
he was sentenced, 14 July 2014, to 8.8 years in federal jail and 20 years supervised release.
For the past five years Morris had been pretending to be a teenage boy or girl, on-line, and getting 14 to 16 year old girls to perform sex acts for him live-streamed via web cameras. He said he did this about once a month.
In a period of a few months, while he was under investigation, he accessed, more than 192 times, child sex abuse from both his home and UVA computer on campus. UVA immediately suspended Morris pending the investigation and he later resigned his position.
Morris received his doctorate in management information systems from Indiana University, master’s degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University.
• Alan Clyde More, a professor at George Mason University, was arrested and charged, 3 October 2014, with ten felony counts of child porn possession. He was trading in child sex abuse from university computers.
Alan More is, allegedly, a retired CIA employee; however, this allegation is yet confirmed. His employment with George Mason was, apparently, terminated upon his arrest. When he was a professor at George Mason he taught Introduction to The Intelligence Community.
• Gary Spring, a 61 year old professor and Chair of the Civil Engineering Department at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, was arrested, 19 September 2014, and charged with one count child porn possession. He is currently free on $30,000 bail pending his sentencing. His next court date is scheduled for 24 March 2015.
Spring had been using his university and home computers to trade in child sex abuse. Spring was caught when Merrimack information technology (IT) staff notified campus security of Spring’s crimes on campus. In addition to his role as a professor, Spring was an administrator for a residential children’s summer camp at Merrimack College.
Merrimack College has terminated his employment.
• Christopher Haynes, a 64 year old retired geography professor at Humboldt State University, was arrested, 29 August 2014, and charged with four child pornography counts. He was sentenced, 24 February 2015, to 90 days in jail and three years probation.
In a deal, Haynes plead guilty to one count of possessing child pornography and the other three charges were dismissed.
Upon his arrest, Haynes possessed “thousands” of child sex abuse images/videos. He was caught when a local web-hosting company noticed child porn on their servers and contacted Homeland Security with Haynes’ IP address. Haynes was still teaching at Humboldt at the time of his arrest and the university released a statement saying, “Humboldt State University police have been assisting the Department of Homeland Security and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office with an investigation of Christopher Haynes, who was arrested today on charges related to child pornography.” Haynes had won California Geographic Society’s annual “Outstanding Educator” award. His bail was set at $100,000 which he posted within hours and was free pending sentencing.
• William Merrill, a 58 year old professor who specialized in internet censorship at Central Michigan University (CMU), was arrested, November 2012, and charged with a four felony counts including possession of sexually abusive material, distributing/promoting child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to commit a crime. In a deal, Merrill plead guilty to one count of receiving child porn and prosecutors dropped the other charges. He was sentenced, 24 July 2013, to 5.8 years in jail. Upon his arrest, investigators found more than 6,000 images/videos of child sex abuse on Merrill’s university computer depicting extreme violence against children. In total, at home and work, Merrill had “more than 100,000 images and 1,600 videos involving bondage, bestiality and children in noticeable anguish.” Merrill was caught when university information technology (IT) staff noticed a large data download and triggered an investigation.
• Micah Maurio, a 28 year old part-time music professor at the University of Southern Maine (USM), was arrested, 5 December 2014, and charged with dissemination of sexually explicit material of someone under the age of 12.
USM suspended Maurio, without pay, “pending a decision on his continued employment with the University of Southern Maine.” Upon his arrest he had “hundreds of images of child pornography.” Maurio was released on personal recognizance and is free pending sentencing. The State of Maine dismissed all charges on 24 February 2015; however, charges are slated to be re-instated and brought before a grand jury within the next 90 days.
There have been other reports of child sex abuse by University of Maine professors. In 2001, Senior Child Protection staffer Cynthia Wellman claimed University of Maine professors were sexually abusing children, along with Child Protection Staff, on campus. The State of Maine has refused to open a criminal investigation.
• Larry Gene Peppers, a 67 year old retired sociology professor from Clemson University, was arrested, 12 February 2015, and charged with two felony counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and four felony counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. He was released on $60,000 surety bond. His next court date is 29 May 2015.
• Kirk Nesset, a 57 year old award-winning, creative writing professor at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged, 1 October 2014 with one count each of child porn distribution, receipt and possession. Upon his arrest he had over 500,000 videos/images of child sex abuse and thirty folders with titles like “kidsfuck.”
He was indicted, 14 October 2014, on all three counts. On 9 February 2015 he filed a motion asking for another continuance which was granted. Nesset remains free on $10,000 bond. The court has allowed him to travel to Arizona since his arrest.
Nesset was caught by an undercover federal agent in on-line child sex abuse trading sites. He had been trading in child sex abuse since at least 2005.
Nesset resigned from Allegheny College, 2 October 2014, where he had been a full professor at Allegheny since 2009. He earned his doctorate at University of California, Santa Barbara and had won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize in 2007.
Allegheny College cancelled all classes and offered grief counseling to the student body and staff upon news of Nesset’s arrest.
• Travis Brown, a 45 year old assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Arkansas, was sentenced, 14 October 2014, to five years in jail on child porn charges. He had arrested 6 February 2014 and charged with four counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession. In a deal, Brown plead guilty to one count of receipt of child porn in exchange for all other charges dropped.
Upon his arrest investigator found some 629 images of children, ages 10–12 years old, being sexually abused. The university terminated his employment on 10 February 2014. Brown’s investigation was triggered by a “tip” to the state police. Pending his sentencing, Brown was under house arrest, $5,000 signature bond, and his father’s custody.
• Gary Farlow, a physics professor at Wright State University (WSU), was arrested and charged, 25 September 2014, with one count of child porn possession which he plead guilty to on 22 December 2014. His sentencing hearing is set for 30 April 2015. He remains free on personal recognizance pending sentencing. Farlow possessed in excess of 400 images of child sex abuse of which 194 were known images from famous child sex abuse series shared on the internet. Wright State information technology (IT) staff discovered child porn on Farlow’s computer when he took his laptop to the IT department for servicing. WSU Police opened an investigation and found more child porn on his university desktop computer. Farlow was placed on paid suspension by Wright State University.
• James Uphoff, a 76 year old retired early childhood education professor also from Wright State University, was arrested, August 2013, on child porn charges. In October 2013 Uphoff, in a deal, plead guilty to one count of child porn possession and was sentenced, 10 September 2014, to 1.2 years in federal prison. He had been trading in child sex abuse for at least a decade. While he was out on bail, pending sentencing, he was caught, again, with child porn. No new charges were brought.
Upon his first arrest, investigators found 500 images and two videos of child sex abuse, including children in bondage, on Uphoff’s computers.
Uphoff was caught when he left child sex abuse images on a university printer/copier which was discovered and reported to university police. This triggered a search of Uphoff’s university computer and his home. Uphoff had cultivated a reputation as a leading expert on early childhood education. He also volunteered for the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Montgomery County Juvenile Court and served as Ohio’s Education Association Union President and president of the Oakwood School Board.
• Richard Pokryfka, a 70 year old professor emeritus at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, was arrested, 12 June 2013, and charged with three counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and one count third-degree child exploitation. Pokryfka had been trading in child sex abuse images/videos of children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. He was caught when he sent an undercover Homeland Security agent child sex abuse images. Originally held on $100,000 bond, he was indicated on 13 August 2013 on two counts of distribution and possession of child pornography. In a deal, Pokryfka plead guilty to one count of child porn possession on 24 November 2014. No sentencing date has yet been set. He has remained under house arrest since his arrest. Pokryfka had been a professor at The Citadel since 1975 and is a retired Navy Captain. A Citadel Cadet, Joshua Rumph, has also arrested for child porn.
• Frank Lombard, 43 year old Associate Director of Duke University’s Center for Health Policy, was arrested, 24 June 2009, and charged on child sex abuse related counts. On 17 December 2009 he plead guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor and was sentenced, 29 March 2010, to just over 27 years in federal prison.
Lombard had been drugging, raping and offering for rape his five year adopted son since the child was an infant. He also live-streamed the infant rape. An informant told investigators he witnessed “Lombard molesting an African-American child on four occasions over an Internet video chat.” Lombard had adopted two African-American children that he sexually abused. His internet profile “stated he was interested in “perv fam fun.” Lombard was caught when he invited Washington DC undercover Detective Timothy Palchak to fly to North Carolina and “have sex with” his 5 year old adopted son. Lombard told the undercover investigator that “he had himself molested his child, whom he adopted as an infant, and that he had allowed others to molest his child.” He said “the abuse of the child was easier when the child was too young to talk or know what was happening” and “he drugged the child with Benadryl during the molestation.” Upon his arrest, Duke University placed Lombard on unpaid leave and terminated his employment in July 2009. Lombard had been employed at Duke since 1999. Both children were taken into protective custody.
• Lawrence Scott Ward, 63 year old now former professor emeritus and Chair of the Marketing Department at Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, was arrested, 27 August 2006, for child porn production and distribution.
On 17 May 2007 Ward plead guilty, in Virginia, to producing child pornography for importation into the US and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. On 17 November 2008, in Pennsylvania, Ward pleaded guilty to four counts of child pornography and sexual misconduct and one count of making false statements to a federal official and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ward was “an esteemed Ivy League professor,” wealthy Fortune 500 consultant and founder of a nonprofit youth outreach program for at-risk youths. He was earning “<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" href="http://www.phillymag.com/articles/the-bri