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Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller, a
Columbia faculty member has been arrested on child pornography charges
Commentary by Ed Vincent

Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller’s arrest with charges announced by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and Gary J. Hartwig, a special agent-in-charge of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Investigations in Chicago. On Thursday, November 19th Oak Park police officers and Federal Officers served a warrant on Dr. Fuller’s residence which he shares with another older man. The two men are a couple and have been together for a number of years. Dr. Fuller was charged with sending child pornography over the internet using a Google e-mail (gmail) address registered to his name.

Fuller’s home in Oak Park, where the warrant was served allowed investigators in his home and they searched his computer and found nude photos of infants and prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit actions, as noted in the criminal complaint.

It is reported noted in the complaint that between June 29, 2009 and July 27, 2009 the gmail account listed in the name of Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller was used some 144 times from his residence at 1000 North Taylor, in Oak Park. It is also reported from the criminal complaint that he also used the same gmail (Google) account some 65 times through a internet provider (IP) address from Columbia College in Chicago.

The complaint also states that Dr. Fuller is noted to have had some 40 emails with a person who he had been discussing the molesting of an infant, this is said to have happened between September 26-29 of this year. It was not explained if there
was a discussion of a fantasy or an actual event which was
being written about. Another unnamed person was noted having written emails with Dr. Fuller some 10 times where the discussion involved the sexual molesting of a young male (this was recorded to have happened on October 17, 2009). Three days after this activity Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller is said to have written some 25 emails with a different person and the letters were dealing with having sexual relations with a mother and her young child. The complaint did not note if these were fantasies, plans, desires, or histories of past events. That information will more than likely come out in the trial.

When all of these allegations were shown to Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller he leapt on his sword, so to speak, he chose not to use
his constitutionally guaranteed Miranda rights and freely told the investigators that they had found items on his computer
and his computer alone and it was not shared with anyone in
the house (protecting his older roommate).

Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller, has been teaching at Columbia College in Chicago since 2003 and received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology. Since his arrest his classes are being taught by another professor at the college. Dr. Fuller's webpage at Columbia

1000 North Taylor, the residence of Dr. Fuller
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc photos

After being arrested and taken from his home he was held for several days in Chicago awaiting a ruling on his bail and perhaps other charges to be filed. On November 23rd, United States Magistrate Judge Susan Cox released Dr. Fuller on a $100,000 bond on November 23rd. Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller, 41 years old professor was released from custody with the $100,000 bond and his father’s word that he would be his son’s third party custodian and take responsibility for his boys returning to court when ordered for trial.

Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller also has an electronic ankle bracelet and is confined to his dad’s apartment in the city. Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller is also not to have contact with children or use the internet.

Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller faces federal criminal charges of transporting child pornography, and the evidence for the charge was reported to have been found on the search of his home in Oak Park where his computer had been used.

Transporting child pornography carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 5 years in prison and a maximum of up to 20 years
in prison, with a fine of up to $250,000.

Half of the people on the block had no idea of what had happened in their neighborhood, some not knowing even their neighbors (some only in the home for a few months). Other
people had no idea which house was involved, and some pointed to the wrong house when asked. The day after the arrest the
owner of the home had the phone number changed which made it difficult for those neighbors who are friends to see how he
was doing. Some who were looking forward to another fun Christmas party at the location were shocked at the news.
Some neighbors were upset that a local female psychologist
had emailed numbers of them warnings of the bad news on the block.

About a month ago there was the news of a new computer virus that could allow someone else to take over your computer and load child porn onto it and then view the images on your system with apparent impunity. It is also well know by IT professionals that sending emails with a fake sender address is quite easy to do and many people have simple passwords based on their pets names or other easy to remember formulas.

It would appear though that all of these potential defensive options would be out the window if you had already told everyone that you were responsible for the things that they
have accused you of.

To have graduated from the University of Chicago, a stellar institution in many regards, and yet be so stupid to not understand how computers work and the world of the internet
is unimaginable to me. Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller’s area was genetics and with that said (if I weren't typing) he must have let his xy chromosome arrangement take the lead in action from
his frontal lobe.

Only a day or so after the arrest of Dr. Kevin Gregory Fuller some 8 people were arrested around the country for the same kind of behavior and the total number of those in this sordid activity could easily reach to more than 100 individuals. This arrest was based on a man caught in 2008 who was working
with the law to bring others to justice.

Hopefully Dr. Fuller might lessen his charges if he can provide names to things the investigators may be unaware of. 5 years
seems a bit severe for a sentence if he was not producing the
photos first hand and had no involvement with children directly in an inappropriate manner.