University of S. Alabama professor snared in sex sting www.privateofficer.com
University of S. Alabama professor snared in sex sting http://www.privateofficer.com
Mobile AL. Nov 30 2008al.com
A University of South Alabama economics professor has been charged with sending obscene pictures to a minor.
Federal law enforcement officers arrested Barry Simpson, an assistant professor at USA’s Mitchell College of Business, on Nov. 17.
According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mobile, an FBI agent accused Simpson of sending two photos of his erect penis to an undercover agent posing as a 13-year-old girl.
The case will be heard in U.S. District Court in Miami because the undercover agent is based there.
Simpson used the screen name “Sam Jones” when chatting online with the undercover agent, according to the affidavit.
Sam Jones is also the name of Mobile’s mayor.
A phone message left at Simpson’s home Friday afternoon was not returned by Friday night.
USA spokesman Keith Ayers said the university has suspended Simpson pending the outcome of the case. The university will continue to pay Simpson, but he will not teach any classes until the case is resolved, Ayers said.
The university has taken Simpson’s information off the Mitchell College’s faculty home page.
Ayers said the school does that when teachers are suspended so students expecting to take a class with a specific professor won’t be disappointed when someone else is heading the class.
According to the affidavit, FBI agent George Nau posed as a 13-year-old girl in a Yahoo! chat room.
Simpson sent Nau photos of his penis and of him clothed, according to the affidavit, and asked the undercover agent “would you want me to come see you if I traveled down there (to Miami)?”
At one point, according to the affidavit, the agent asked Simpson how he could know that the pictures of the penis were really Simpson, because his face was not included in those photos.
According to the affidavit, Simpson replied, “You don’t I guess. I didn’t put my face in there because I didn’t want to get in trouble.”
Simpson later said he was chatting with a girl from Georgia whom he believed to be 14 or 15 years old, according to the affidavit. Simpson said she had sent him pictures of herself lifting her shirt and exposing her breasts, and he said he planned on meeting her when she visited Mobile over Thanksgiving break, according to the affidavit.
The undercover agent asked Simpson over the Internet if he planned on having sex with the Georgia girl, and he replied “yep,” according to the affidavit.
Law enforcement officials traced the computer used to conduct the chats to USA and the Yahoo! screen name to the e-mail address simpson@business.auburn.edu, according to the affidavit.
Ayers said Simpson got one of his degrees from Auburn.
Authorities showed the clothed pictures of Simpson to USA officials, who identified the individual as Simpson, according to the affidavit.
Simpson faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the charges, according to the indictment.
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