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Florida professor arrested on child porn charges
Steven Kistulentz

Kistulentz’s access to campus has been suspended, and he is being held in jail

Florida law enforcement arrested an English professor and graduate director of creative writing at Saint Leo University on child pornography charges.

Steven Kistulentz (pictured) has been charged with two counts of intentional viewing of child pornography and 10 counts of possession, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office news release.

A statement from the university confirmed that Kistulentz has been placed on administrative leave and his access to campus has been suspended, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Detectives began their investigation after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that child exploitation material was being uploaded via the social media/messenger app Kik,” the law enforcement news release stated.

“Through various investigative techniques, detectives were able to identify the suspect as 55-year-old Steven Kistulentz,” it continued.

The police obtained a search warrant for the professor’s home and seized electronic devices. Additional charges may be applied once the police have more thoroughly analyzed the devices.

Kistulentz admitted in an interview to ownership of the Kik account and to sending and receiving child pornography, according to detectives. He is being held in Pinellas County Jail.

Kistulentz published a novel, “Panorama,” in 2018 and he has also published several poetry collections and served as the poet laureate in Safety Harbor, Florida since 2019, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

A city spokesperson stated that Kistulentz had the poet laureate honor withdrawn after his arrest, the Times wrote.

MORE: College offers controversial ‘hard core pornography’ class

IMAGE: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office

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