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University of Hawaii mechanical engineering professor admitted Tuesday in U.S. District Court that he allowed someone else to download child pornography video from his computer using a file-sharing program.
Beei-Huan Chao, 61, had been charged with one count of transporting child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, but pleaded guilty just to the transporting charge in a deal with the prosecutor.
He faces a maximum 20-year prison term with a mandatory five-year minimum at sentencing in September. He also will have to submit to court supervision for the rest of his life and will have to register as a convicted sex offender.
U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi told Chao that she will decide at sentencing whether to approve his plea agreement.
Chao told Kobayashi that he downloaded a number of files containing videos of child pornography using a file-sharing program and shared the files with others.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael David Nammar told Kobayashi that an FBI agent, using the file-sharing program, downloaded a file containing child pornography from Chao’s computer in February 2016. He said the FBI later found child pornography videos in a search of Chao’s computer in June.
Chao was scheduled to stand trial in July. His guilty plea comes after Kobayashi had allowed him to travel to New York earlier this month to attend his son’s graduation from medical school.
In addition to being a professor, Chao is graduate chairman of mechanical engineering. UH says Chao has been on paid administrative leave since his arrest in August.
Correction: Beei-Huan Chao is the full name of the defendant. An earlier version of this story did not include his full name.
