Three days after he was arrested and locked up in a Franklin County correctional facility, an Ohio University assistant professor in the College of Business pleaded not guilty in county court to a 12-count indictment involving child pornography.
Amol Kharabe, 41, was arrested Monday by Dublin authorities at his home there, according to a previous Post article. He was previously held in Jackson Pike Corrections Center, a Franklin County Sheriff’s receptionist said.
“On or about Sept. 18, Kharabe is accused of possessing a laptop which was found to contain child pornography,” Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in a news release from his office.
Kharabe appeared in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday afternoon.
He pleaded not guilty to nine counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor and one count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, among others.
The charges stemmed from an Athens arrest warrant, according to a previous Post article.
Judge George P. McCarthy set Kharabe’s bond at $50,000, and Kharabe signed a release on his own recognizance. He will not have to be incarcerated awaiting his May 6 jury trial.
Kharabe, of Dublin, which is near Columbus, is on “paid administrative leave” from the university, said Stephanie Filson, OU’s director of external communications, in a previous Post article.
For now, Ralph Riedel, a faculty member in the College of Business, will teach Kharabe’s class, according to a university email.
Filson added that there is no evidence indicating that Kharabe downloaded any obscene material on OU servers or WiFi.
Although the Athens Police Department is investigating the situation and has a warrant to search Kharabe’s Richland Avenue apartment, APD officials could not provide further comment because the case is ongoing.
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