Professor Arrested in Child Porn Probe

A Loyola Marymount University professor who is a Catholic brother and nationally recognized expert on drug use by young people, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of possessing and duplicating child pornography.

Anthony Peter Smulders, 61, a biology professor, was taken into custody by Los Angeles Police Department detectives without incident at his Los Angeles home, Capt. Sharyn Buck said.

Smulders, a member of the religious order Brothers of Our Lady, Mother of Mercy, was booked on two misdemeanor counts of possessing child pornography and 28 misdemeanor counts of duplicating pornography.

“The images that detectives and I saw are some of worst we’ve ever seen in anyone’s possession,” Buck said.

If convicted, Smulders faces a maximum of a year in jail on each count.

He was being held Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Police said Smulders is a counselor with the American Youth Soccer Organization, but could not say what his duties were or where he was assigned.

The investigation began in October, when a technician repairing Smulders’ university office computer discovered images of apparent child pornography, LAPD Det. Jim Brown said.

Loyola Marymount security officials reported the discovery to the LAPD, and a search warrant was obtained for Smulders’ university computer, his office and home, Brown said.

Detectives allegedly found child pornography images of young boys downloaded from the Internet on the university computer, Brown said.

At Smulders’ Ramsgate Avenue home, LAPD detectives allegedly recovered dozens of computer disks and magazines containing child pornography, Brown said.

Smulders was placed on paid administrative leave in October after a search warrant was executed at the university with its cooperation, said Janis Johnson, Loyola Marymount’s assistant vice president for communications and public affairs.

Johnson said the university also is conducting its own investigation of Smulders.