Ranzenberger to stand trial Sept. 27 for possession of child pornography
A former member of the Mount Pleasant City Planning Commission and Central Michigan University faculty member is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 27 for possession of child pornography.
Mark Ranzenberger pleaded not guilty to the charge in June. The deadline for him to change his plea was Sept. 6. The U.S. District Court Clerk’s office said no change of plea has been filed.
Ranzenberger was arrested in May. A police investigation began after he accidentally displayed thumbnails of pornographic images from his computer on a classroom projector.
The U.S. Code states a conviction for possession of child pornography carries a sentence between five and 20 years.
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.
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.
