Former CMU instructor facing federal child porn charge

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A former Central Michigan University faculty member who resigned in the midst of an investigation into child pornography is facing a federal possession charge.

The case against Mark Thomas Ranzenberger was filed in the U.S. District Court yesterday. Ranzenberger is accused of possession of child porn involving minors under the age of 12 on March 10 in Isabella County.

An affidavit in the case states U.S. Secret Service Agent Christopher Cruse was notified in March by CMU Police of a child porn investigation involving Ranzenberger. The investigation began on March 4 when a student reported to the university’s Faculty Personnel Services that while in class, Ranzenberger accessed files from his Dropbox account which showed thumbnails of pornographic images. The images were seen by the entire class.

As part of the investigation, CMU Information Technology made a backup copy of Ranzenberger’s computer by remote, and saw photos that appeared to contain images of nude children in sexually suggestive poses, the affidavit states. Also found during forensic examinations of other digital media seized from Ranzenberger’s Moore Hall office were numerous images of young children engaged in sexual acts, a number of Power Point presentations believed created by Ranzenberger containing photos of young girls naked and engaged in sexual acts and other items.

Also found were photos of clothed children that appeared to be taken at various public locations without the children’s knowledge, the affidavit reads.

In total, about 1,032 images of child pornography were found.

During an interview with a CMU police sergeant, “Ranzenberger stated he thought he had ‘gotten rid of all that stuff,’” the affidavit states.

After the police investigation began, Ranzenberger — a temporary faculty member — was placed on leave by the university. He later resigned.

Ranzenberger also served on the Mount Pleasant Planning Commission, and submitted his resignation to that body on March 21.

Ranzenberger was the weekend editor at the Daily News until 1997, and was a writer and editor at the Morning Sun until 2013. Ranzenberger had worked at the university since 1999.