Dan Weyrick didn’t have the slightest idea who would be teaching his management and information systems class Thursday morning.
He also didn’t realize, until after logging on to social media sites, that the reason Amol Kharabe wasn’t leading the Tuesday session was because he was being held on child pornography charges.
Kharabe was being held at Jackson Pike Corrections Center, as of press time, 3:30 p.m., a Franklin County Sheriff’s receptionist confirmed.
In a previous Post article, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said Kharabe must show up to Athens County Common Pleas Court on Thursday for a hearing.
Weyrick, a junior studying management and information systems and marketing, had emailed Kharabe’s teaching assistant to see what the plan is for the class.
Ohio University sent an email Wednesday afternoon to Weyrick and his classmates that Ralph Riedel, a faculty member in the College of Business, will teach Kharabe’s 10:30 a.m. class.
“We’re kind of playing the waiting game, not sure what is going to happen,” Weyrick said. “There are a million different theories going around about what is going to happen, but no one really knows.
“I didn’t receive anything from the university regarding the arrest and what would happen to us.”
University officials are aware of the arrest, according to a previous Post article.
Kharabe is on “paid administrative leave,” Stephanie Filson, OU’s director of external communications said in an emailed statement. His salary is $120,360 for the 2013-14 academic year.
Kharabe was arrested at his Parkmill Drive home in Dublin on Monday night, according to a report from the Dublin Police Department. He was arrested for nine counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor, one count of pandering obscenity, one count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and one count of possessing criminal tools, all of which stemmed from an Athens arrest warrant. Each of those charges could result in a felony, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
Athens Police Lt. Jeff McCall said the Athens Police Department is the investigating agency and that APD officers were involved with executing the search warrant on Kharabe’s Richland Avenue apartment. He could not comment further on the ongoing investigation.
“He always came off as a pretty normal guy,” Weyrick said. “There was nothing unorthodox about him, but when we heard about it, the more we thought about it, it wasn’t something that was completely past us.”
He added Kharabe was somewhat quirky, but never came off as dangerous or inappropriate to anyone in the class of 39 students.
One of Weyrick’s roommates had gone to Kharabe’s office during his office hours for help with an assignment.
“He got the help he needed on the assignments and that was it,” Weyrick said. “In and out in a small amount of time. Other than that, no one else I’ve talked to really was overly personable with him.”
@Akarl_Smith
as299810@ohiou.edu
This article originally ran in print under the headline: "Details emerge on OU prof's arrest"
