Two N.C. State Students Charged for Child Pornography

It is nearly impossible to monitor pornography on the Internet, but investigators say they are slowly making inroads against child pornography.

N.C. State says two students have been arrested in two separate cases of child pornography.

The case of 18-year-old Jon Richard Brock was brought to the attention of N.C. State by the SBI. Investigators said Brock was storing pictures on his hard drive of a minor engaged in a sexual act.

In the second case, the university says it received a tip from an outsider about 22-year-old Timothy Gilrane.

"Somebody sent us a complaint saying there is this stuff on your Web server, and you should do something about this," says Charles Kneifel Ph.D., who is with N.C. State's Information Technology department. "And once we're aware of that, we have an obligation to not let it continue."

So the Information Technology department took action. It accessed Gilrane's web site and reported what it found to campus police, who then turned it over to the SBI.

N.C. State is not the only local university who has had to handle this type of crime. William Rosa, who pleaded guilty to his part in an international child pornography ring, was a medical student at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Timothy Baxter, a junior at Duke last fall, was arrested on similar charges. The SBI says although the problem is growing, there is no way to monitor the Internet at universities or anywhere else for that matter.

However, that is not to say alleged child pornographers will not be caught.

"If it's freely available to anybody, all that it takes is one person who doesn't like it and turns it in, and we can shut it down," Kneifel said.

Brock is charged with second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Gilrane is charged with first-degree sex offense. Both are out on bond.