Ex-university employee charged with 8 felonies for child pornography

<p>In the last six months, four employees affiliated with Ball State have been arrested for possession of child pornography. Professor of Marketing Shaheen Borna held a lecture on intellectual freedom and the right to inquiry and digital privacy prompted by concerns of how much access the Office of Information Services has to Internet search information on the Ball State network.  <em>Corey Ohlenkamp // </em><em style="background-color: initial;">DN File </em></p>

Randal Ray Schmidt, a former maintenance employee at Ball State, was formally charged with eight felonies, which included seven counts of possession of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Schmidt began collecting digital images of children engaged in “sexual conduct” as early as June 2012, according to the charges.

Although he tried to delete images of child pornography from a university computer, an investigation of his activities was already underway, police said. As a result, he was suspended from his job as a maintenance supervisor at Ball State on April 4 and later resigned, university officials said.

On April 4, university police detectives were notified of images of nude children downloaded onto Schmidt’s work computer. The charges also refer to “two black Lenovo desktop tower computers” and a “PNY thumb drive” being used to collect the pornographic images.

Schmidt also admitted he had “viewed images of nude young women while at work for the intended purpose of satisfying or arousing his own sexual desires,” according to an April 5 interview in an affidavit.

Also on April 5, Schmidt “attempted to delete images stored on a Toshiba satellite laptop” to try to avoid them being “used as evidence in an official proceeding or investigation.” The act later led to his obstruction charge.

Two of the pornography charges against Schmidt are Class D felonies carrying maximum three-year prison terms, and the other six charges are Level 6 felonies with maximum 30-month sentences.

Schmidt is being held in the Delaware County jail under a $175,000 bond. An initial hearing in his case is scheduled for April 25.

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