Ranzenberger trial scheduled for Sept. 27


A former Central Michigan University faculty member is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 27 on one count of possession of child pornography.

Former journalism and broadcasting fixed-term faculty member Mark Ranzenberger pleaded not guilty to one count of possession of child pornography on June 7.

According to the Office of the Court Administrator of the United States District Court, Ranzenberger has until September 6 to change his plea.

Ranzenberger was arrested May 20 after police found more than 1,000 images of child pornography on various digital devices in his possession. The investigation began after a student reported seeing thumbnails of pornographic images on Ranzenberger's computer that he unknowingly projected onto a classroom overhead screen.

According to the Office of the Court Administrator of the United States District Court, Ranzenberger has until September 6 to change his plea. Possession of child pornography carries a sentence of 5-20 years in prison.

Ranzenberger was arrested May 20 after police found more than 1,000 images of child pornography on various digital devices in his possession. The investigation began in March after a student reported seeing thumbnails of pornographic images on Ranzenberger's computer that he unknowingly projected onto a classroom overhead screen.

On March 9, FPS found images of child pornography and reported the incident to CMUPD.

CMU Police Detective Michael Sienkiewicz executed a search warrant on March 10 and searched Ranzenberger's Office. Police recovered a university-owned iMac computer, USB external hard drive, zip disk/drive, four 3.5 floppy disks, two USB thumb drives, two Flip video cameras, an IGB hard drive, a Kodak digital camera and SD card, an Ipad, and multiple CD's, zip disks and floppy disks.

A U.S. Secret Service criminal complaint filed May 19 states Ranzenberger admitted to Sgt. Mike Morrow of the CMUPD he had obtained the images from a German website between 2004 and 2008. He said he saved 5 to 10 Powerpoint files into his Dropbox cloud storage account. According to the complaint, Ranzenberger told Morrow he thought he had, "gotten rid of all that stuff."

The complaint also said he admitted to creating a document detailing how to "groom" a child from birth to age 11 to be receptive to participating in sexual acts. Ranzenberger 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.

The content found included images of children younger than 12 years old engaged in sex acts and penetration of an infant. Police also found photos taken by Ranzenberger of children in public locations, without the knowledge of the children.

Ranzenberger told investigators that despite looking at the images and writing the grooming document that he never sexually assaulted a child. Ranzenberger resigned from CMU and the Mount Pleasant Planning Commission in letters sent to CMU and the Mount Pleasant City Commission on March 21. Ranzenberger taught journalism and broadcast and cinematic arts classes at CMU since 1999.

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