Net Censorship Expert Faces Child Porn Charges

All sorts of icky

A Central Michigan University professor whose areas of research include censorship and the internet is accused of having child pornography and other crimes.

William Lord Merrill is named in an arrest warrant authorized by an Isabella County Trial Court magistrate Wednesday, charging him with five felonies.

Merrill, who teaches instructional technology and early and middle childhood mathematics methods, is charged with distributing or promoting child sexually abusive activity, a seven-year felony; two counts of using a computer to commit a crime, a seven-year felony; possession of child sexually abusive material, a four-year felony; and possession or sale of a switchblade, a one-year misdemeanor.