A federal warrant was issued July 1 for University employee Ron Brown, who still is on the run from charges of possession of child pornography.
Brown is on leave without pay from the University Relations office, according to Gene Sands, executive director of University Relations. He was last heard from June 24 when he called his wife and said she could find their mini-van in a Natchez, Miss., mall parking lot.
Authorities got a warrant to search his Livingston Parish home early June 24.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lyman Thornton III said the LSUPD and the Baton Rouge District Attorney’s office requested a federal arrest warrant for Brown.
“When someone leaves Louisiana and they are charged of a crime, a UFAP [unauthorized flight to avoid prosecution] warrant is issued,” Thornton said. “The UFAP puts him in the national system so everyone will be looking for him.”
Ron Hay, executive director of computing services, said his office is assisting in the ongoing investigation.
“Apparently he’s been doing this for a very long time,” Hay said. “The original investigation was for pirated software. We had to be invited in by the person in charge.”
This is not the first time computing services has investigated a University employee for child pornography. Former LSUPD Lt. Robert J. Jones Jr. pleaded guilty in February to charges of receiving child pornography.
“We learned a lot, but we are working only as a facilitator to the authorities,” Hay said. “Forensic computing is a specialty we have just gotten involved in.”
Hay also said computing services does not monitor what University employees do in their spare time.
“We wait for the appropriate warrants,” Hay said. “If we were to do that [constant monitoring] we would be violating the first amendment.”
Hunter Ely, the computing services employee who discovered child pornography on Brown’s computer, was unavailable for comment because of his involvement in the ongoing investigation.
Hay said employees mostly are investigated for shopping or playing games when they should be working.
“This type of thing happens frequently – about eight or ten cases in the last year,” Hay said. “But the criminal activity we send to LSU police.”
Chancellor Mark Emmert said because of the impending investigation, he could not comment on whether the University would change its policy on monitoring employees and their computers for illegal activity.