Former Cornell employee Robert E. Mosher was arrested on Thursday for two counts of possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child, according to an October 18 Cornell news release.
Linda Grace-Kobas, director of Cornell News Service, said, “It is alleged that he was in possession of child pornography. He hasn’t been charged with selling.”
According to Grace-Kobas, Mosher was a staff member in Cornell Information Technology until early in this year.
“There were a variety of materials, among them computer files,” said Grace-Kobas.
Scott C. Hamilton, senior investigator with the Cornell Police, was responsible for conducting the investigation.
“The CIT people were alerted and had to conduct an investigation,” Hamilton said. “They found some questionable material.”
“There were video files on his computer and disks on his desk and around his work space,” said Hamilton.
“We are not charging him with distributing it [child pornography] , but receiving it,” said Hamilton.
According to Hamilton, “There was an extensive amount of material. We found several bits of it mixed in when it was reviewed.”
Grace-Kobas said, “The matter is in the courts now.”
Hamilton said investigators were unaware of any connection between Mosher and similar cases at Harvard, Yale or the University of Minnesota.
According to the Yale Daily News, in an articled published on Feb. 19, 2000, Prof. Antonio Lasaga, geology, Yale University, pleaded guilty to receiving and possessing child pornography. Lasaga had used computers in Yale’s geology department to download thousands of images of child pornography. Furthermore, Lasaga faces charges related to first-degree sexual assault involving a minor.
“This is an aberration,” said Wendi Kane ’05. “Am I surprised? Not particularly.”
“He shouldn’t be allowed to do that,” said Daniela Avraham ’05.
Archived article by Chris Mitchell