Ohio University officials might file charges against a former professor based on results of an informal investigation by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office has seized the computer of Larry Nighswander, former director of the School of Visual Communication, to determine if he is the source of a fraudulent e-mail sent in April, said Fairfield County Lt. Gary Kennedy.
The unsigned e-mail originated from a Yahoo! account under the name Phyllis Bernt, Faculty Senate chairwoman. The message criticized and threatened Provost Kathy Krendl, interim provost at that time.
We don't know what's on (the computer's harddrive) yet
but we are checking to see if the e-mail did come from him Kennedy said. OU will probably file charges for identity theft and possibly a menacing charge depending on the details of the threat if the sheriff's office confirms that the e-mails came from Nighswander, he said.
Bernt, whose name was attributed to the threatening e-mails, said she spoke to the OU Police Department, but they said they did not think she was involved. She is waiting until the end of the investigation to determine what legal action, if any, she will take against Nighswander, she said.
Provost Krendl declined to comment.
This is not the first time Nighswander has come under investigation by the university. In January, he settled a lawsuit filed by former student Rebecca Humes, who accused him of sexually harassing her during a private photography shoot. Humes was awarded $350,000 and admission to OU for graduate school.
Only a few months after the settlement, the Fairfield sheriff's office granted OU a search warrant for the former professor's office and computer, Lt. Kennedy said.
(Communication Network Services) security staff and consultants discovered (the e-mail) came from Larry's office said John Burns, director of legal affairs at OU.
Athens County prosecutors later referred the internal university investigation to the sheriff's office because Nighswander now lives in Pickerington and is out of OU's legal jurisdiction, Burns said.
Any further action will be made public when the investigation concludes, Burns said.
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