Ex-Emory Professor Sentenced To 6 Years For Child Porn

ATLANTA, GA -- A former Emory University professor has been sentenced to six years and six months in prison for child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia recently announced.

Kevin Sullivan, 61, who worked in Emory's Epidemiology Department, downloaded thousands of images of child porn using the university’s Wi-Fi to access sites outside the country.

Federal investigators said Sullivan, of Atlanta, was able to bypass U.S. servers and tap into one based in Switzerland.

“Sullivan downloaded thousands of files depicting the sexual abuse of children,” U. S. Attorney John Horn said in a statement. “He attempted to cover his tracks by using his personal computer on the Internet system at Emory to download the images. As predators continue to try to develop new methods to feed and download child pornography, we will continue to find them and prosecute them.”

According to Horn, the case in October 2014 when Swiss law enforcement officials seized a server hosting child porn. Tracing login information, investigators were able to follow the data trail across continents to Emory's Rollins School of Public Health: Someone on Emory’s Wi-Fi was looking at child porn.

Enlisting the university's Information Technology Department, agents were able to identify Sullivan's digital trail on the Swiss website.

“Child pornography is one of the most heinous crimes HSI investigates due to the irrevocable harm it inflicts physically and emotionally upon innocent children,” Atlanta's Homeland Security-Immigration Special Agent in Charge Nick S. Annan said in a statement. “Those who download these illegal images re-victimize innocent children who’ve already been subjected to unimaginable harm. ICE Homeland Security Investigations is committed to investigating and seeking prosecution of child exploitation cases as one the agency’s highest priorities.”

Agents executed a search warrant on Sullivan's office, finding more than 8,000 files of child porn on his personal laptop and external hard drive on June 15, 2015 -- but not before he left the building.

When agents descended on his house later that day, they arrested Sullivan but noticed that files on his computer had "titles suggestive of child pornography" but had been wiped clean, federal officials said.

He pleaded guilty on Dec. 1 2016 and was convicted. After Sullivan's six-year prison term, he must complete seven years of supervised release and pay a fine of $15,000.

The case was investigated as part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Attorney-led initiative designed to protect children around the nation from online exploitation and abuse. For more information, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Image courtesy of DeKalb County Sheriff's Office