UA Professor No Longer Employed At School After Child Porn Arrest

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The University of Alabama says an American literature professor arrested for possession of child pornography is no longer employed at the school.

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As Patch previously reported, James Andrew Crank, 45, was charged with two counts of possession of material containing visual depictions of persons under 17 involved in obscene acts. The charges followed a search warrant being carried out at his residence on Alexander Avenue in Tuscaloosa.

Crank was listed on the University of Alabama website as an associate professor of American literature and culture, along with being the director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English. His faculty profile says he is a former National Humanities Center Summer Fellow and co-host of the podcast “The Sound and the Furious," in addition to being a contributor to the BBC and the PBS television show “The Great American Read.”

"The accused individual was immediately removed from campus and all facilities," UA Director of Communications Deidre Stalnaker said in a statement on behalf of the university. "We will continue to support law enforcement’s investigations."

According to a deposition filed Wednesday and obtained by Patch, the investigation can trace its roots back to Aug. 10, when Dropbox, Inc. initiated a cyber tip to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children — a practice following the company's terms of service.

This report submitted by the company included a digital file that had been uploaded to a Dropbox account associated with an email and username tracing back to Crank.

Investigators reported that this 4-minute, 28-second video showed "sadomasochistic abuse" of a minor, while another 3-minute, 19-second video also depicted sexual abuse of a child who identified themselves as 12 years old.

After the initial video was discovered and reported, investigators issued a subpoena to Google, Inc. regarding the email address associated with Crank's Dropbox account.

The deposition states the subpoena returned the name "Andy Crank" with a recovery email and phone number.

What's more, investigators also submitted a subpoena to Comcast about the IP address associated with login activity related to Crank's email account captured on Sept. 22.

This subpoena resulted in investigators learning that the IP address was associated with the Crank's home address in Tuscaloosa.

Investigators then used the evidence collected to obtain a search warrant for Crank's Dropbox, which resulted in his subsequent arrest.

Following his arrest, a judge set bond for Crank at $15,000 for each count.

What's more, Crank will also be prohibited from accessing social media or the internet, in addition to being barred from being in the presence of children while his case moves forward.

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