Professor Pleads Guilty In Porn Case By MARK PAZNIOKAS The Hartford Courant February 19, 2000

Yale University professor Antonio C. Lasaga pleaded guilty to child pornography charges Friday, admitting he twice videotaped sexual acts by a young boy on the Ivy League campus in November 1998.

Lasaga, 50, a world-renowned geochemist, accepted a plea deal that leaves him facing a maximum of 20 years in prison on two counts, but spares him from a trial that was to begin next Thursday in federal court in Hartford.

Prosecutors were expected to present graphic testimony from the 13-year-old boy he taped, once in a geology classroom and again in his quarters on campus, where he was master of Saybrook College.

``Professor Lasaga's guilty plea spares all involved - witnesses, jurors and the court - the pain of an intense, unpleasant trial which could only further damage the private and public lives of those most directly involved,'' said his attorney, William F. Dow III.

In a written statement, Dow called the guilty plea ``a sad and tragic chapter in the brilliant career of a world-renowned scientist who has contributed to our understanding of global warming and the nature of the world we live in.''

As his wife and one of his two adult sons sat behind him, Lasaga calmly read a statement to U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson acknowledging making the tapes and downloading tens of thousands of pornographic images of children from the Internet.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kari A. Dooley told Thompson that the government was prepared to prove that Lasaga had received child pornography from Spain, Russia and throughout the United States. It depicted minors having sex with adults, with animals and with each other.

A significant prison term for the Princeton- and Harvard-educated scientist is likely: Federal sentencing guidelines prescribe at least 11 years, 3 months in prison, and Thompson typically follows the guidelines. Sentence will be imposed May 8.

Lasaga pleaded guilty Friday to two federal charges: receipt of child pornograpy and possession of child pornography. In return for his guilty plea, five other federal counts will be dismissed.

He also faces state sexual assault charges in connection with his relationship with the 13- year-old boy, whom he met in a school mentoring program.

Once a rising star at Yale, Lasaga's world began unraveling in August 1998, when a graduate student discovered Lasaga was downloading child pornography into a campus computer network.

Alerted by the student, a computer systems administrator began monitoring Lasaga's Internet activity. Yale police and the FBI were notified in November. Based on evidence provided by the systems administrator, they obtained a search warrant and found the tapes and other evidence.

Dow tried to convince Thompson to suppress the evidence, arguing that the systems administrator had acted as a police agent. The judge refused, noting that the administrator acted on his own. In fact, once contacted, the FBI instructed the administrator to take no further action.

RU MILLS COMMENTS:

I wonder if this man will survive his 11 year sentence. Pedophiles are hated by the general prison population, most of whom have children.