Assoc. Commerce Dean Michael Morris was arrested and charged by the FBI with distribution or reception of child pornography Wednesday morning. He has since been placed on leave by the University.
Morris will appear before a federal grand jury, having waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
The FBI arrested Morris at his home in Crozet, Va. and searched the premises through the afternoon. He is being held without bail and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 18.
According to court documents, Morris logged on to a child pornography video sharing service 192 times between Jan. 3 and Oct. 28 of this year.
In addition to paying for a password-protected account, Morris also downloaded several videos in January and March. The videos included females as young as 8 years old engaging in sexually explicit acts with adult males.
An undercover FBI agent tracked a number of videos from the website’s server to Morris’ computer, prompting the on-going investigation that led to his arrest.
His activity on the peer-to-peer server dates back to at least January 2012, but likely earlier. The username the FBI captured while he was using it on his University IP address has been active since 2006 and Paypal payments to the server from Morris’ U.Va. email were first registered in 2010.
Morris started working at the University in January 2007 and was suspended once the University learned he had been charged, University spokesman McGregor McCance said.
“The University is cooperating fully with the on-going investigation and has suspended the professor pending completion of the investigation,” McCance said.
According to Alice Dornemann, Morris’ neighbor, those who lived around him were taken by extreme surprise.
“People are in a state of shock — just totally shocked,” Dornemann said.
Dornemann described Morris as “very quiet” but otherwise friendly. She said that no one in the neighborhood knew him to behave strangely and that no one ever expected something like this to happen.
This week’s events have made “everyone feel uneasy” in the neighborhood Dornemann said. She and others were taken aback when FBI agents arrived in Crozet around 7 a.m. to arrest Morris while “he was still in his pajamas.”
Morris worked at the Air Force Institute of Technology and as a Visiting Professor at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration before coming to the University in 2007. He specializes in information technology and the adoption of new technologies.
UPDATE:
Morris was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg for charges related to the distribution and possession of child pornography.
The Associate Dean and McIntire professor was charged with two counts of distributing or receiving images of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
“If convicted, Morris faces a sentence of between five and 20 years in prison,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice, “A Grand Jury Indictment is only a charge and not evidence of guilt. The defendant is entitled to a fair trial with burden on the government to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The FBI conducted the investigation, and Nancy Healey, Assistant United States Attorney, and Herbrina Sanders, a Trial Attorney with the Departement of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section will prosecute the case.
Read More
Administrators and faculty paint conflicting pictures of May 4 encampment clearing
By Cecilia Mould | 1 hours agoThe details contested between the town halls included the clarity of the University’s tent policy and the presence of suspicious individuals at the encampment.
Faculty Senate calls for an external review of May 4 clearing of encampment
By Priya Kommu | 1 hours agoSenators had questions about the lack of direct communication between University administrators and the students and faculty present at the encampment.
University's last minute update to EHS tent regulations document creates confusion, frustration
By Arshiya Pant | 2 hours agoRyan said that he did not believe there was confusion among protesters about the permissibility of tents due to warnings from University officials on several occasions to remove tents.
