An ASU graduate teaching assistant was fired after he was arrested Thursday and charged with counts of sexual exploitation of a minor following a July arrest for the same offense.
Eric Brian Krause was fired by the University and banned from campus as of Friday, said ASU spokesman Keith Jennings.
University officials were unaware of Krause's July arrest, something Jennings attributes to the fact that employees aren't required to disclose their criminal history and the failure of Phoenix police to provide ASU with that information.
Officials found out about Krause's most recent arrest on Friday, Jennings said.
Officials met to discuss Krause's employment and made the decision to fire him.
"The decision was that he shouldn't be in the classroom at this point or for that matter on campus," Jennings said.
Krause supervised a breakout session of General Chemistry with Qualitative Analysis, a 100-level class in the chemistry and biochemistry department, prior to his arrest last week, Jennings said.
Krause, 23, was arrested Thursday after Phoenix police detectives found several pornographic images of Krause's 17-year-old girlfriend on his home computer, Detective Tony Morales said.
The computer was confiscated in July after Krause was arrested on two charges of sexual exploitation of a minor. Police say Krause arranged a meeting over the Internet with two individuals who he believed to be 13-year-old girls. He allegedly planned to give the girls money in exchange for sexual favors, Morales said.
Morales could not release additional information about the investigation or the circumstances surrounding the arrest, citing department policy of investigation of Internet crime.
The charges are considered class three felonies and are punishable by up to a life sentence in prison if the victims are under age 15.
Krause is scheduled to face trial Dec. 16 on the charges stemming from the July arrest. No hearing date has been set on the Nov. 20 charges.
Reach the reporter at kelly.vaughn@asu.edu.
