Former university faculty's trial rescheduled for Nov. 1
Former Central Michigan University faculty member Mark Ranzenberger’s trial has been rescheduled for Nov. 1.
Arrested in May for possession of child pornography, Ranzenberger has until Oct. 17 to file a plea.
A police investigation began after he unknowingly displayed thumbnails of pornographic images from his computer on a classroom projector.
The U.S. Code states a conviction for possession of child pornography carries a sentence between five and 20 years in prison.
A U.S. Secret Service criminal complaint filed May 19 states Ranzenberger admitted to Sgt. Mike Morrow of the Central Michigan University Police Department he had obtained the images from a German website.
The complaint also said Ranzenberger admitted to creating a document detailing how to “groom” a child from birth to age 11 to be receptive to participating in sexual acts. He told Morrow the document was “purely fantasy.”
Ranzenberger also told U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Chris Cruze he had accessed a bulletin board sometime between 2004 and 2006 and downloaded several zip files containing pornographic images of children.
