SAGINAW, MI — A longtime Saginaw Valley State University professor charged with possessing child pornography has accepted a plea deal and agreed to not apply for reinstatement to the school.

Robert J. Thaler appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Robert Kaczmarek on Monday, Jan. 13, and pleaded guilty to single counts of possessing child sexually abusive material and using a computer to commit a crime punishable by four to 10 years in prison.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will drop an additional such charge each and recommend that Kaczmarek sentence the 72-year-old Thaler to probation and not incarceration.

Thaler's agreement also calls for him not to apply for reinstatement to SVSU, where he worked from 1974 until April 2012, when school officials suspended him indefinitely without pay.

SVSU spokesman J.J. Boehm said he had yet to hear of the specific details of Thaler's agreement and said only that Thaler remains on suspension.

Saginaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Boyd said his office entered into the agreement because of Thaler's age, his agreement to not apply for reinstatement, and the fact that the convictions will place him on the state's sex offender registry.

Boyd also noted Thaler's sentences would have run concurrently regardless of whether he pleaded to two or four charges.

Prosecutors initially charged Thaler, an assistant professor of sociology, with nine counts each of the sexually abusive material and computer charges. Prosecutors in October dropped seven counts each.

“There were a lot of images we had, because they were off the Internet, that we were unable to discern who the pictures were of,” Boyd said. “There were only a couple images where we were able to verify they were in fact minors.”

Thaler's plea agreement is similar to one discussed in September, when Thaler's attorney, Michael Manley, wanted Thaler to look at the images he'd plead to possessing.

SVSU officials in January 2012 “became aware of apparent wrongdoing involving the misuse of a university computer,” Boehm has said. After an investigation, police submitted 41 images of questionable nature to a national registry that determines whether the images are of minors, county Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Barnes has said.

Officials at the registry identified nine pictures as being images that have been submitted from at least one prior case, Barnes said, though the officials could not actually identify the suspected children.

As police were investigating Thaler, SVSU officials “also began internal disciplinary proceedings,” Boehm has said.

A sentencing date was pending for Thaler, who remains free on a $18,000 or 10 percent bond.

— Andy Hoag covers courts for MLive/The Saginaw News. Email him at ahoag@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter @awhoag