NAMES IN THE NEWS : Professor Denies Abuse Charge
A University of Maryland nuclear engineering professor today denied allegations that he sexually abused his daughter for more than 16 years.
Frank J. Munno, 54, was indicted Tuesday by a Prince Georges County grand jury on felony charges after Angela Mattson told that authorities her father sexually abused her from the third grade through graduate school.
“I’m pleading not guilty because I’m not guilty,” Munno said in a telephone interview from his College Park home.
“ Shocked and outraged would be the words to describe the feelings I’m trying to keep inside,” he said. “My family is supportive and very disappointed.”
Mattson, 28, an engineer with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said she made the abuse allegations public because she hoped to help other victims of abuse.
Munno, a tenured, $89,000-a-year professor, heads the nuclear engineering program on the College Park campus, the largest in the University of Maryland system. He has been at College Park 32 years.
He said he will not take a leave from his teaching position. “Why would I be any worse a teacher because I was accused,” said Munno.
The grand jury charged Munno with incest, child abuse, unlawful carnal knowledge, and unnatural and perverted sex practices. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, if convicted on all the charges.
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