FBI papers say Lasaga admitted downloading porn

COURTESY THE YALE BANNER Former Saybrook Master Antonio Lasaga.

"During the course of the search, I interviewed Antonia Lasaga who informed me...that he had been downloading child pornographic images from the Internet for approximately two years," reads the criminal complaint affidavit submitted by Special Agent Lisa Tutty to the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Conn. on Mon., Nov. 19.

Does this mean Lasaga, the Geology and Geophysics professor and former Saybrook Master who resigned unexpectedly on Fri., Nov. 6, has already admitted he is guilty of violating child pornography statutes? "That's up to you, or to a jury, to determine," Lasaga's lawyer, Jeremiah Donovan, LAW '77, said.

On Wed., Nov. 18, Lasaga was charged, and on Thurs., Nov. 19, he surrendered himself to U.S. Marshals and was released on a $50,000 bond. The amount is "typical for a white-collar crime," Donovan said.

Tutty's two affidavits, one for the Fri., Nov. 6, search of the Saybrook Master's Office and residence and one for the arrest, were released to the public on Tues., Nov. 20. They describe how two unnamed graduate students became aware that Lasaga was downloading and storing child pornography from the Internet and alerted the FBI. They describe the seizure of "hundreds of graphic image files" from Lasaga's computer. They describe "images...of a nude young Latino boy in various poses" and images that "included sexual contact between young boys and adult males."

Lasaga has been charged with the receipt and possession of illegal images. According to one Connecticut defense attorney and former prosecutor who has worked with child pornography cases, the criminal threshold for making, receiving, or possessing child pornography is very low. "These cases are simple to prosecute," the attorney, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "People tend to be caught red-handed." Donovan would not reveal how Lasaga will plead.

The FBI is still conducting "an ongoing, active investigation" of Lasaga, Special Agent Ford Cole, a media representative at the New Haven FBI, said. Once the Bureau completes its investigation, it will hand the evidence over to a 16- to 20-member grand jury. If at least 12 of the jurors agree that there is probable cause to suspect criminal activity, the case will progress to an indictment hearing, where the defendant is formally charged and enters a preliminary plea. According to Donovan, by judicial convention, this first plea is always "not guilty."

On Tues., Nov. 3, the FBI learned that "an individual using the system at Professor Antonio Lasaga's workstation computer appeared to be downloading child pornography from the Internet," the search affidavit notes. According to the affidavit, an anonymous member of the G&G department informed Tutty that, "On at least two occasions, while graphic images files were being downloaded by the individual using Lasaga's workstation and password, Lasaga was present in the Geology Department and at his workstation. The most recent of these occasions was November 4, 1998."

Only members of Lasaga's small research group of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows have a password for the server through which the images were downloaded. A command on the server's UNIX system revealed to the anonymous G&G member that Lasaga's password was also being used in the evenings to download pictures from the workstation to an outside computer. The server indicated that this outside computer was located in the Saybrook Master's Office or quarters.

According to the former prosecutor, the U.S. Attorney's Office probably did not issue an arrest warrant for over two weeks because "A computer is a very, very difficult thing to search. It has to be gone about very delicately. You need an expert."

Publicity has also proven unbearable for many child pornography defendants, the attorney said. Recently, one visiting microbiologist from Germany committed suicide after being charged with child pornography.

The attorney explained that Lasaga will be assigned to a federal judge, who will decide to hold the trial in New Haven, Bridgeport, or Hartford, the three Connecticut cities that house federal criminal courts. "To get to trial might take a while, but the actual trial itself should be short," he said. "Factually, it couldn't get much simpler."

Meanwhile, Lasaga is still a tenured Yale professor, though he has taken a leave of absence for the remainder of the academic year. "[Lasaga] is in good standing," Professor Brian Skinner, a geochemist and former G&G chair who has known Lasaga for over 10 years, said. According to one graduate student in Lasaga's research group, Lasaga's advisees still report to him.

To take away Lasaga's tenure, Yale would have to convene the University Tribunal for the first time ever. Only a "severe infraction that disrupts the University community" warrants such a convocation, Deputy Provost Charles Long said.

Established in 1969 by then-President Kingman Brewster, the Tribunal has jurisdiction over student and faculty cases throughout the entire University. Thus, it supersedes the Yale College Executive Committee and any disciplinary bodies of the graduate and professional schools.

If a professor is brought before the Tribunal, he or she is judged by five faculty members, according to the Tribunal's "Procedures and Regulations." The professor also has the right to be represented by counsel. If he or she is found guilty, the Tribunal recommends sanctions to the President. These include dismissal, suspension without pay, or a reprimand. The respondent may appeal to the Yale Corporation.

Skinner said he "would feel fine having [Lasaga] back." Stanford geologist Dennis Byrd, who regards Lasaga as "one of half a dozen earth scientists that I would classify as a genius," believes that, "If [Lasaga] leaves academia, it will be a great loss."

Even if the charges turn out to be true, Skinner said he would still support his colleague. "It would not change my opinion of his work," he said, noting that academics usually separate their opinion of someone's work from that of his or her personal actions.

Mary Burgan, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors in Washington, D.C., agreed. But while Burgan believes professors are often "given a wider margin than ordinary mortals for personal failings," this only applies within the academic community. "When a faculty member has a problem, outside scandal comes down with both feet," she said. "A sexual problem, for example, that might be ignored in the general population--or in a president--is magnified in academia."

William S. Mauldin contributed to this article.

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