Pornography strikes school

PALMER -- Mat-Su College administrators sent an employee home and shut down the campus computer system after another staff member accused the employee of illegally downloading and possessing child pornography.

The name of the accused employee has not been released and normal access to the computer system has been restored.

College Director Paul Dauphinais said MSC administration called the University Police at the University of Alaska Anchorage on Wednesday, April 16, after the allegations came to his attention.

UPD officers obtained search warrants and showed up the next day, according to Dauphinais, who said he hasn't seen the alleged pornographic materials personally. UPD officers seized desktop computer equipment from the employee's work station.

According to Sgt. Ron Swartz of UPD, the search of the desktop equipment will take time.

UPD also obtained search warrants for the accused employee's home and vehicle. On Wednesday, Swartz said investigators haven't searched the seized computer gear yet.

"The instructions from the magistrate who issued the warrants asked us not to get into the computers for a number of business days," Swartz said. "I think that has something do with the privacy of the people who use the mainframes on

campus."

The on-campus warrants were served to Dauphinais. He said the magistrate's concerns about the privacy of other computer system users were clear in the wording of the warrants.

MSC computers were shut down for a "number of hours" on the day the officers showed up, Dauphinais said. Dauphinais didn't know exactly how long the shut-down lasted, but it was long enough for complaints about service and long enough to raise questions around campus.

"We essentially closed down our outside access, so no one could get in and no one could get out," Dauphinais said. "That was to protect the institution and protect the rights of the accused."

Dauphinais said one scenario that could compromise the investigation would be if a person logged on to the system during the search and dumped illegally obtained files into the account managed by the accused person or into another person's account.

The shut-down should have protected against that scenario, according to Dauphinais.

During the shut-down, students and staff at the normally wired campus could not access files such as accounting records, library catalogues or e-mail. They couldn't transfer any data between computers. Some services simply halted. Messages were delivered by walking or "sneaker net," Dauphinais said.

Dauphinais also said he isn't aware of anyone at Mat-Su College who would have legal access to child pornography for research or any other purpose.

The university will not release the name of the accused and his name will become public only if formal charges are pressed.

"What I'll say at this juncture is that these are allegations and not fact," Dauphinais said.