You never know what can happen on a university campus. We experienced a very interesting and dramatic turn of events this week. One of the most respected professors in our music department, Dr. Rick Soule, was charged and arrested for possession of over 26,000 child porn images on his university computer. Apparently a CIS technician found the images during a network system upgrade. The university police were notified. Later the network connection in his office was configured to remotely observe him downloading additional images in real time. Metro police were contacted and his office was raided. The computer was confiscated as evidence along with a variety of CDs, portable disk drives, and zip drives. A search warrant was executed for his home where additional drives and a notebook computer were seized. A warrant was issued yesterday. He arrived with his lawyer and turned himself in last night. He was officially booked into the county detention center and made his first court appearance this morning to enter a plea. Bail was set at $250,000. Dr. Soule taught flute in the music department for 32 years. He was teaching a full load of grad and undergrad classes as well as private lessons. He was immediately terminated and is now forbidden to set foot on campus. I regularly tuned the piano in his studio and I tuned a harpsichord for a trio performance he was in just two weeks ago. He was also 1st chair flute in the Las Vegas Philharmonic. He has been forced to take a "leave of absence" from the symphony but I have my doubts he will be returning. According to the media he has not made bail and remains in county jail. The piano in his studio was his own, I'm not certain why. It is currently on a dolly in my university shop along with a few of his other belongings. Hopefully in the next day or two it will all be moved elsewhere. The media is reporting that he could spend the rest of his life in prison. With the intensifying movements against child porn and his high profile as a 32-year university professor I would not be surprised if this story becomes national news. The media has been hovering around the music department. I was stopped outside by local CBS channel 8 and asked for an interview. I only gave a brief statement that I thought he was a nice and polite guy and had a lot of respect for him. They actually did use it and I was on the news last night. Bottom line: If you have been tempted by this kind of activity, DON'T. If you are currently involved in this kind of activity, STOP, clean your hard drive, and DON'T do it again. Any questions? Some links to this story: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Oct-25-Wed-2006/news/10422520.html http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=5552664 http://www.kxnt.com/pages/113699.php?contentType=4&contentId=229635 http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?s=5558222 Rob Goodale, RPT University Nevada, Las Vegas -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20061025/3e75c7cd/attachment.html
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