A former Ball State University professor of Information and Communication Sciences, Robert Yadon, has been arrested for possession of child pornography — making this the third arrest of a university employee in less than three months for similar charges.
Yadon, also serving as the director of the Applied Research Institute, was barred from campus on June 21 and arrested on June 27 by the University Police Department, according to a press release.
The arrest of the professor came upon conclusion of an investigation done by UPD along with the Indiana State Police Cyber Crime Unit, which was brought on after a routine security scan found unusual activity, said university spokesperson Joan Todd.
“The university has in place strong security measures to protect the integrity of our technology system, which include routinely scanning the use of information systems,” UPD Chief Jim Duckham said in the press release. “When traffic patterns suggest that information security, integrity or performance has been compromised, we investigate. These enhanced measures enabled us to discover and further examine the conduct in all three of these matters.”
Ball State does not currently use any technology to block certain content, like pornography, online, but instead has in place a policy governing the use of the internet that prohibits criminal activity, the press release said. However, if the university finds "additional measures are warranted," then changes to prevent future cases like these might occur.
While the two previous arrests, one May 13 and one April 13, are similar, authorities in the investigation currently have no information that suggests these three cases of possession of child pornography are related to each other.