Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Grand Jury Indicts 2 College Computing Administrators on Child-Pornography Charges By DAN CARNEVALE Two men from different Ohio institutions were indicted Friday on charges alleging that they stored pornographic pictures of children on campus computer servers. Eugene Robert Anderson, a 51-year-old former computer-science professor and information-technology director at Marietta College, and Robert Lynn Sandford, a 32-year-old senior computer-network engineer at Ohio University at Athens, were indicted by a grand jury in Washington County, Ohio. Mr. Anderson faces 139 counts, including pandering obscenity and sexually oriented material involving minors, corruption of a minor, and promoting prostitution. Mr. Sandford faces 62 counts, including tampering with evidence, pandering sexually oriented matter, and illegal use of a minor in nudity-related material. The charges were based on just a fraction of about 40,000 pornographic pictures involving children that were found in the suspects' computer files, said Michael G. Spahr, prosecuting attorney for Washington County. Mr. Spahr wouldn't reveal the exact ages of the children in the pictures, but he said they were definitely minors. "Some were younger than teenagers," he said. Mr. Sandford and Mr. Anderson both worked at Marietta College before Mr. Sandford took a job at Ohio University in February 1999, Mr. Spahr said. Mr. Anderson resigned from Marietta in January 2001 as the investigation was beginning, and he currently lives in Parkersburg, W.Va. Mr. Sandford still works for Ohio University and lives in Vincent, Ohio. Neither man was available for comment. If convicted on all counts, Mr. Sandford could face 267 years in prison, while Mr. Anderson's terms could total more than 640 years, Mr. Spahr said. In a separate incident, Mr. Anderson had been arrested in March in West Virginia and accused of displaying pornographic material to facilitate sex with a 16-year-old boy, authorities said. The case is still pending. The investigation began after authorities were tipped off about Mr. Anderson's alleged activities, Mr. Spahr said. "A young man came to law-enforcement officers and said a professor was doing improper things with young boys," he said. Police then obtained search warrants and eventually found the pictures on computer servers at the two institutions. The grand jury indicted the men after several months of investigation. Hub Burton, a spokesman for Ohio University, said the institution would conduct its own investigation and determine what action to take against Mr. Sandford. "Now that the indictment has been issued, the university will examine the scope of its allegations, both inside and outside of the workplace, with a special emphasis on whether or not the allegations constitute misuse of university equipment," Mr. Burton said. "That review will allow for a rapid determination of Mr. Sandford's work status as an employee of Ohio University." Marietta College officials removed Mr. Anderson from his position as information-technology director soon after his arrest in December and were in the process of revoking his tenure when he voluntarily resigned as a professor, said Miriam H. Bailey, a college spokeswoman. "When we first learned about Dr. Anderson's arrest, we took steps to bar him from campus and from the computer networks," she said. "Obviously, this has been a very painful experience for us. But we are learning from it, and we are moving on." Mr. Spahr said that because the suspects knew of the investigation and did not try to flee, they would not be placed under police custody at this time. They are to be arraigned today. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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