Former Vice Provost and Director of Libraries Paul Mosher turned himself in to the Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit late Monday afternoon for allegedly possessing almost 2,000 images of child pornography.
The Special Victims Unit confiscated Mosher's computer on April 11 from his office in Van Pelt Library, located at 3420 Walnut Street.
Following the computer seizure, Mosher was placed on administrative leave by University officials.
Mosher officially resigned from his position as vice provost on Thursday.
According to police sources quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer last week, Mosher allegedly purchased many of the pornographic images with his credit card.
If convicted, Mosher faces three to seven years in prison on these charges.
The University had no further comment on the situation yesterday, according to University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman.
Holtzman added that it is out of the jurisdiction of Penn administrators.
"It's really the Philadelphia Police's case and the district attorney's case now," she said.
Since Mosher's resignation last week, Current Acting Director of Collection Development and Management and Director of Technical Services of the Information Processing Center Carton Rogers has been appointed to the position of interim vice provost and director of libraries.
While the University's library system has been running smoothly since Mosher was placed on administrative leave on April 15, staff members at Van Pelt Library have not taken this incident lightly, according to Adam Corson-Finnerty, who serves as director of development and external affairs for the library system.
"People are in a state of shock," he said, declining to provide further comment.
Before joining Penn in 1988, Mosher held several positions at the Stanford University Library, including serving as deputy director from 1985 to 1988.
Mosher has also served as adjunct professor of history at the University, but at the time of his resignation, he was not a member of the faculty.
Paul Messing, Mosher's attorney, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Rogers also did not return a phone call for comment.
