Boilermaking Child Porn: Purdue Students Computers Seized

Seventeen Purdue University students have had their computers seized in a campus child porn investigation, though campus police say no arrests have been made - yet.

Twelve students yielded their computers under search warrant while five turned theirs over voluntarily to campus police, the Associated Press reports. But the preliminary probe hasn't turned up any apparent link among the seventeen, the AP says.

Dean of Students L. Tony Hawkins said any students mixed up in child porn could face campus sanctions and criminal charges. "Even though we're talking about student-owned devices," he said in a formal statement, "that equipment still makes use of the university's network infrastructure for operations such as e-mail usage and Internet access."

Investigators will turn findings over to Tippecanoe County prosecutors, the AP says. Indiana law can get possessors of child porn up to three years in the can and up to $10,000 lighter in the bank.