A doctor at Emory University who downloaded child pornography using the university's Wi-Fi was sentenced this week to six years, six months in prison.
Prosecutors said Kevin M. Sullivan, 61, an Atlanta epidemiologist, used his personal computer but Emory's Wi-Fi to download thousands of images from child porn sites outside the U.S., including a server in Switzerland.
"As predators continue to try to develop new methods to feed and download child pornography, we will continue to find them and prosecute them," U.S. Attorney John Horn said in a news release.
According to Horn, evidence showed that in October 2014, Swiss law enforcement seized a server that was hosting child pornography. Login information from the server showed that someone at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health was using Emory's Wi-Fi to access child pornography. With cooperation from Emory University's Information Technology Department, agents were able to determine that it was Sullivan.
When agents searched his office in June 2015, Sullivan left before agents found child pornography on his personal laptop and external hard drive.
When agents went to his house later the same day to arrest him, they found Sullivan there at his home computer. A search of that computer revealed titles suggestive of child pornography, although the files themselves had been deleted. A search of the laptop and hard drive from his Emory office showed that Dr. Sullivan had more than 8,000 files containing child pornography.
"Child pornography is one of the most heinous crimes HSI investigates due to the irrevocable harm it inflicts physically and emotionally upon innocent children," said Nick Annan, special agent in charge of Atlanta's Homeland Security Investigations office."Those who download these illegal images re-victimize innocent children who've already been subjected to unimaginable harm. ICE Homeland Security Investigations is committed to investigating and seeking prosecution of child exploitation cases as one the agency's highest priorities."
Sullivan pleaded guilty in December. In addition to the prison sentence, he was assessed a $15,000 fine.