Merrimack College department chairman charged with possessing child pornography

WCVB
September 19, 2014

http://www.wcvb.com/news/merrimack-college-department-chairman-charged-with-possessing-child-pornography/28156410

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. —A college administrator has been fired after being arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

Gary Spring, 61, of Danvers had his initial appearance in court Friday according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Spring is the administrator of Merrimack College's residential summer camp for middle- and high school-aged students.

He also serves as the chairman of the civil engineering department.

According to the criminal complaint, college officials discovered suspicious activity associated with one of the college’s loaner computers that had been assigned to Spring. 

A forensic examiner was able to retrieve over 300 images of child pornography stored in the computer’s cache.

According to the complaint, Spring said he “freaked out” and began destroying evidence that he possessed child pornography after he was first interviewed by investigators.  

Spring told investigators he took two thumb drives, totaling six gigabytes, which were full of child pornography and threw them in the trash at his home.

Spring admitted to viewing child pornography on his personal computer said he took his personal computer to a computer store to be wiped clean.

The criminal complaint said Spring also admitted to viewing child pornography on the college computers. 

In a statement Friday evening, the college said the professor had been terminated. 

"Upon the outset of this investigation, Professor Spring was immediately placed on administrative leave and forbidden to return to campus. Under college personnel policies Merrimack on Friday immediately terminated his employment," the college said in a written statement. 

Spring faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the charges.