Ranzenberger pleads guilty to child molestation, sentencing scheduled for Jan. 26
Mark Ranzenberger appeared in court Friday, Jan. 20 for the second consecutive day — this time in Isabella County Court to plead guilty for sexually assaulting a child.
In October, the former Central Michigan University professor was charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for sexually assaulting a child between 1999 and 2003. As part of the plea agreement, Ranzenberger pleaded guilty to one of those counts in exchange for the others being dropped. Sentencing has been scheduled for 9:45 a.m. on Jan. 26.
Isabella County Prosecutor Robert Holmes and Ranzenberger's defense attorney William Shirley agreed to set sentencing guidelines at 14 years minimum before going up for parole, which means Ranzenberger will have to serve at least 14 years in prison before he can be considered for release by a parole board.
Ranzenberger was sentenced yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Bay City to 14 years for possession of child pornography. Shirley said the sentences would be served concurrently — meaning Ranzenberger will not need to serve an additional 14 years for the federal charges.
Ranzenberger first admitted to the sexual assaults on Sept. 27 in federal court when he pleaded guilty for possession of child pornography — when he confessed to sexually assaulting a minor several times during seven years. As part of the plea agreement, he could not be charged in federal court for the assaults, but he was charged shortly after by the State of Michigan.
The accusations first came to light when a CMU student reported Ranzenberger had inadvertently shown pornographic images on a projector to a class. CMU Police conducted a search warrant for his office and found his work computer and other digital media held several images of child pornography.
More than 1,000 images depicting child pornography were found in his possession, along with a document describing how to groom a child from birth to age 11 to be receptive to sexual acts.
During a CMU Police investigation, Ranzenberger said the document was “purely fantasy” and denied ever sexually abusing children. He told police he thought he had "gotten rid of all that stuff."
Ranzenberger was a faculty member at CMU since 1999 — teaching journalism and broadcast cinematic arts courses. He was a member of the Mount Pleasant City Planning Commission. He resigned from both positions when the accusations became public.
