St. Joseph County police arrested a Saint Mary's janitor Friday and charged him with nine felonies “related to the possession of child pornography and child exploitation,” according to press release from the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office. College students, faculty and staff received an email Friday afternoon from College counsel Rich Nugent notifying them of the arrest.
“Building services employee Luis Morales was taken into police custody at his home yesterday for allegedly downloading and distributing child pornography from his personal computer. The St. Joseph County Police Department Cybercrimes Unit attributed the criminal activity to a single IP address on our campus. Police would later determine that Morales used the College’s wireless network during his overnight shift when he was scheduled to clean the library,” Nugent stated in the email.
Nugent said the College acted promptly to identify the person responsible for the crimes. Both Nugent and the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's office stated there is no evidence that students, faculty or staff were in danger or harmed by Morales.
“The charges against Morales are very troubling. Such activity is heinous and deplorable and will not be tolerated by this administration. The College suspended Morales without pay pending the outcome of our own investigation. He has also been informed that he is not to come to campus,” Nugent said.
A Saint Mary's maintenance worker was fired and arrested in April 2014 for voyeurism at the College. David Summerfield pled guilty to misdemeanor voyeurism and criminal mischief in August 2014, and he was sentenced to 30 days in prison and a 30-day probation period following his prison sentence.
