SAN FRANCISCO – Dr. William T. Garner, the former education dean of the University of San Francisco (USF), pleaded guilty to possessing more than 15,000 images of child pornography.

In pleading guilty, Garner admitted that he knowingly possessed visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct between June 10 and July 12, 2006. According to the plea agreement, Garner possessed more than 15,000 images containing child pornography, including images of prepubescent minors and images portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence. He obtained the images through the use of the Internet.

Garner, 66 and a resident of San Francisco, will be sentenced on March 27. He is currently free on a $50,000 secured bond until sentencing.

Garner is Professor Emeritus in the School of Education at USF. He was previously the Dean of the School of Education at USF and was the co-founder and director of the Center for Instruction and Technology at USF.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Garner and the government have agreed to recommend a sentence of 63 months imprisonment, a $12,500 fine, a term of supervised release from two to five years, and restitution of $50,000 payable to the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, a charitable organization located in San Francisco. The Court will impose the sentence and is not required to accept the parties’ recommendation.

The prosecution is the result of a six-month investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE agents were assisted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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