A Texas A&M administrator accused of possessing child pornography might still have his job at the institution where he worked.
During a court appearance last month, Clinton Harnden, 39, a senior administrative coordinator for Texas A&M University’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, revealed that he was still employed at the university.
Harnden’s lawyer suggested in federal court that the defendant, whom the FBI arrested on November 11, was using vacation days while in police custody and would later resume work remotely.
“Texas A&M can’t comment on a pending criminal case, but I can tell you that none of the allegations involved his place of employment in any way,” said Kelly Brown, Texas A&M’s vice president of marketing and communications, according to KBTX 3.
The allegations stem from an FBI investigation involving a woman named Sarah Chadwick, who resides in Michigan. As explained in the criminal complaint filed against Harnden, when Chadwick was arrested on November 8 for allegedly possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), WhatsApp messages between her and Harnden surfaced.
The pair exchanged messages between January and November of this year, reportedly using codes such as “pizza” to refer to CSAM content.
The FBI’s probe also allegedly revealed that Harnden was in communication with other individuals via Snapchat, Tumblr, and Wickr, through which they reportedly exchanged CSAM materials. According to the complaint, Harnden also allegedly told a woman referred to as “Monica” that he had masturbated next to his 8-year-old daughter as she slept. Chadwick allegedly mentioned this abusive behavior to investigators as well.
Having a job was one of the conditions of his house arrest, alongside staying off the internet except for work and having no contact with minors, according to KBTX 3.
In a statement sent to the Texas Scorecard on December 1, Brown updated the news outlet on the state of Harnden’s employment at the university:
“By law, we can’t fire an employee based solely on an arrest. We have just completed our own investigation and will take appropriate action while the accused remains under house arrest in Houston. Since his arrest, he has not returned to work in College Station.”
It is unclear whether Harnden is still employed by the university. His staff page on Texas A&M’s website is currently unavailable.
Crimes against minors have also been a serious issue in North Texas, especially in Dallas, where a serious police shortage has left authorities struggling to get crime under control.
As of December 1, there have been 51 pornography/obscene material offenses committed within Dallas city limits, according to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard. There have also been 682 sex offenses logged, with the current median age of victims clocked at 16 years old.
