The U.S. District Court in Cheyenne has delayed the trial of UW Assistant Professor Jian Cai. The trial was originally scheduled for Monday, Oct. 2. Cai is pleading not guilty to being accused of possessing child pornography.
An affidavit of probable cause says that Cai possessed hundreds of files of child pornography on two devices: one at work and one at home.
The “defendant admitted that he had hundreds of files of child pornography but unsure of the exact count as he had collected for a while,” according to the affidavit. “Defendant stated that he did have child pornography on two laptop computers and on external electronic storage media devices both at home and at work.”
A warrant was procured, and agents were able to locate where the pornographic files were stored, the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, “Agents executed a search warrant of the residence within the City of Laramie, County of Albany, WY, and discovered electronic media devices that when previewed on scene contained image and video files of children engaged in sexual acts with adults.”
Chad Baldwin, Director of Institutional Communications at UW, said that Cai has been put on unpaid leave.
“He (Cai) is on administrative leave without pay,” he said.
The trial has been rescheduled to Oct. 31 in the U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, after the defense hired additional counsel.
