Law Professor Admits He Had Kiddy Porn Cache

 

POSTED: 2:24 p.m. EDT April 15, 2003
NEW YORK -- A law professor accused of storing huge quantities of child pornography on computer drives and disks in his home has pleaded guilty to 100 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child.

Edward Samuels, 54, pleaded guilty as part of a deal in which State Supreme Court Justice Brenda Soloff promised him a maximum of four years in prison when she sentences him on June 23. The judge allowed Samuels to remain free pending sentencing.

Samuels, who taught copyright law at New York Law School in lower Manhattan, was arrested Aug. 14 after he brought his computer to school for technicians to repair and they reported finding images of naked girls between the ages of 3 and 13.
Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal said that after technicians reported finding the pictures, police used a warrant to search Samuels' home, where they found more than 100,000 graphic images of children being sexually assaulted.

"There were numerous naked images of children on numerous computers and disks," Rosenthal told Soloff at Monday's plea hearing.

Meanwhile, the two computer technicians who were fired from the law school after discovering the child pornography on Samuels' computer, filed a $15 million whistle-blower lawsuit in January in Manhattan's State Supreme Court.

Dorothea Perry, 35, of Brooklyn, and Robert Gross, 26, of Staten Island, say in court papers that they were consistently praised for their work and received excellent job performance reviews until they turned in Samuels.

Law school officials "emphatically deny any wrongdoing in this matter," school spokeswoman Alta Lavat said.

Perry and Gross were contract workers sent to NYLS by Collegis Inc., a firm in Maitland, Fla., that provides technological and management services to colleges and universities. The lawsuit names the law school and Collegis as defendants.

Samuels has been on paid leave pending the outcome of his case, a law school spokeswoman said.