Fencing club coach charged with child porn possession

<p>Brian Koby</p>

Other child porn arrests at Ball State:

Brian Siebenaler, former math professor
Randal Ray Schmidt, former maintenance employee
Robert Yadon, former Information and Communications Sciences professor

The coach of the Ball State fencing club has been charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of child exploitation.

Indiana State Police investigators found photos of underage girls on Brian A. Koby's phone and computer when he was arrested Sept. 15, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Officers found the porn uploaded to Koby's Facebook page, on his cell phone and downloaded to three or four hard drives. Koby told officers he had 100 or less child pornographic images saved to his computer, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Koby also chatted with females he knew to be underage, according to the affidavit, and had asked for and received nude images of the girls. He told police he had sent nude images of himself to the girls as well, but he denies ever actually meeting up with them.

The affidavit gave descriptions of 10 of the photos Koby had in his possession, all with underage girls. Some showed the girls in lewd positions, others showed them engaging in sexual acts with men. The youngest girl in the photos appears to be between ages 5-8, according to the affidavit.

Koby is not and never has been a Ball State employee, said university spokesperson Joan Todd. Club coaches are commonly volunteers, Todd said, and the university isn't involved in the hiring process. Koby is a Ball State alumnus and has coached at the university since 2007.

Even so, Koby marks the fourth person affiliated with Ball State to be charged with the possession of child porn. Three others, former math professor Brian Siebenaler, former maintenance employee Randal Ray Schmidt and former Information and Communications Sciences professor Robert Yadon were also charged within the past six months.

Koby pled not guilty to his charges, and will appear in court for his jury trial Jan. 9.

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