A former Ball State University employee was found guilty of child solicitation Friday in Hamilton County Superior Court 2.
Richard Turgeon, former senior information analyst for the Office of the Controller and Business Services, was convicted of the Class C felony - which carries a standard sentence of four years in prison and a maximum sentence of eight years - by Judge Daniel Pfleging. A sentencing hearing has been set for May 15.
Turgeon's attorney Robert Beymer couldn't be reached for comment.
Turgeon was arrested Sept. 8, 2006, after Carmel police confiscated Turgeon's home and office computers for having sexually explicit conversations on the Internet and masturbating in front of a webcam with an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl, according to previous Daily News reports. He was originally charged with two additional counts of dissemination of matter harmful to minors, a Class D felony. He resigned his position at the university three days later.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for marketing and communications, declined to comment on the conviction because Turgeon hasn't worked at Ball State in more than two years.
According previous reports, the officer, posing as the young girl, chatted online with a person using the screen name styxfan5500, who identified himself as Rich. The two chatted seven times between July 15 and Sept. 8, 2006. Styxfan5500 said he was in his office in the Administration Building at least three times.
Turgeon was hired in 1998, according to previous reports, before applicants were checked against the national and Indiana Sheriff's Sex Offender registries.
Sheriff departments are required by law to maintain a registry of all sex and violent offenders in the state, according to the Indiana Sheriffs' Sex Offender Web site. The comprehensive registry has been maintained since January 2003.
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