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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ewu Prof Quits Amid Porn Probe Criminal Investigation Continues, But Termination Hearings Halted

An associate professor at Eastern Washington University who is the focus of a child pornography investigation resigned Monday.

Russell C. Boggs, 42, was suspended in July after college officials discovered a large collection of photographs stored in his office computer. Many of the photos displayed naked girls, some involved in sex acts.

Boggs submitted his resignation in a letter to Provost James Hoffman, who accepted it, school officials said.

Termination hearings against Boggs began last week, but now have been halted, said Stefanie Pettit, EWU spokeswoman.

Boggs, an associate professor of geology, was a member of the faculty for 13 years. In recent months he had been under scrutiny because his classroom performance was slipping, other professors said.

The chairwoman of the geology department discovered the photo collection on Boggs’ computer after the university received reports that he was printing questionable images on university equipment.

A confidential school investigation was started last spring. University police obtained search warrants for his home and office in July.

According to court records, an assistant professor of computer science looked at Boggs’ computer files and estimated some 250 megabytes in the collection with as many as 4,000 individual files.

Of that, about 150 child pornography photos were found during the early stages of the investigation, records said. The court records did not indicate the contents of all 4,000 files, although university officials said they believed Boggs also was using his computer for a private business venture.

The photographs were apparently gathered through computer networks, including some foreign sources, court records said.

A separate criminal investigation is expected to take several months to complete, said university police Lt. Vic Wallace.

Boggs would not comment on the case on the advice of his attorney.

, DataTimes