Professor suspended after arrest in child predator sting, Michigan officials say
A professor’s arrest in a child predator sting streamed on “Takedown with Chris Hansen” has led to his suspension at Eastern Michigan University, the school announced.
Huron Township Department of Public Safety helped conduct the sting Sept. 26-27, the department said in an Oct. 10 Facebook post. Two arrests were made, but one was aired on the Oct. 10 episode called “The Traveling Professor,” police said
In the episode, according to Eastern Michigan University’s student newspaper, The Eastern Echo, Hansen and officers say the engineering professor sent sexually explicit text messages to an officer posing as a 15-year-old girl.
The episode, streamed on TruBlu, then shows the professor going to a location in an attempt to meet the teen decoy, WDIV reported.
Video shows the officers handcuffing the professor and then talking to Hansen, according to the student newspaper.
McClatchy News is not naming the man because he has not been formally charged.
Police added that the second arrest from the sting will be featured in another episode.
Five days after the show’s airing, Eastern Michigan University announced that the professor had been suspended, calling his accused actions “detestable and abhorrent,” according to an Oct. 15 statement.
“Upon learning about this matter, the individual was immediately suspended, barred from campus, denied access to University email, and prohibited from any further contact with the University or our students,” the school said.
The university added that it is not aware of any allegations concerning the engineering professor that involve students or employees, but law enforcement is continuing to investigate.
Charges against the professor were turned over to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office, police said. The professor was released after his arrest as the prosecutor’s office conducts a digital investigation, according to police.
Eastern Michigan University is in Ypsilanti, which is about a 9-mile drive southeast from Ann Arbor. Ypsilanti is about a 23-mile drive northwest from Huron Township.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Professor suspended after arrest in child predator sting, Michigan officials say."
