A pioneering professor at the University of California pled guilty on Friday of traveling to foreign countries to have sex with underage boys. The professor, Walter Lee Williams, was a pioneer in what is called “queer studies” and worked at USC for twenty years and won many awards, including a Fulbright.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Professor Williams was apprehended a year ago, only a day before he was to be named one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals. Authorities charge the professor with having at least ten victims, many of whom he “groomed” online.
The Times reports, “An attorney for USC last year provided the FBI with materials the professor donated to the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives that contained ‘lascivious visual depictions of minors,’ according to the plea agreement. FBI agents also obtained similar images from Williams’ former home.”
When he was first arrested in 2011 at Los Angeles International Airport, Williams was in possession of child pornography.
The professor could get five years in prison, with ten years of supervision and a $25,000 fine.