UI staffer’s report led to leave, investigation

IOWA CITY - An information technology staffer at the University of Iowa reported that a former UI doctor looked at child pornography on his work computer, according to documents the university released Wednesday.

The IT staffer wrote in a service report dated April 20, 2010, that in the process of working on the computer of Gary Hunninghake, he “caught him looking at porn for the third or so time since I have supported his group, this time it was children too, I reported it.”

In response to open records requests by the media, including The Gazette, the UI released about 20 pages of emails and IT work reports regarding Hunninghake. The former researcher resigned his Iowa medical license this fall and paid a fine to the Iowa Board of Medicine.

Hunninghake had sued to stop the UI from releasing any information about the internal university investigation of him. A judge this week ordered the UI to release some of the information but upheld the seal on other documents such as search warrants, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, a party in the lawsuit.

Hunninghake was under investigation by UI police for possible child pornography when he stabbed himself in Chicago in April 2010, according to a Chicago police report of the incident. The university later announced the pornography investigation was closed and that prosecutors had chosen not to file charges. Hunninghake was on paid leave from the UI for about a year before he resigned effective May 31.

The documents released Wednesday detail conversations UI officials had with Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness about the investigation and the possibility of charges being filed.

“Also, have you determined what you will say if asked why he was not charged?” Chuck Green, director of the UI Department of Public Safety, wrote in an email to Lyness on Oct. 2, 2010. “Hopefully, people will understand that he is guilty of visiting and viewing but was not in possession.”

Lyness responded, “If the search warrants are released, I have a press release prepared that basically states that after extensive investigation, there was no proof that Hunninghake possess (sic) child pornography in violation of Iowa Code.”

A May 2010 email from Lyness to Green discussed a conversation with Leon Spies, Hunninghake's attorney. She wrote that, according to Spies, Hunninghake said he had loaned his laptop to family members and that other relatives sometimes used his home and work computers.

“So we know the defense,” Lyness wrote. “We will need to be very clear on the times any images were seen and try to pin the doctor down to when he used the computers and when others used the computers.”

On Wednesday, Spies said the emails reflect that it was the conclusion of law enforcement that Hunninghake committed no crimes concerning his behavior in Iowa City.

“Given a venue like a court in which he could explain what occurred and respond in full, he would have done it,” Spies said. “But there were no charges, there should have been no charges, and that I think concludes the matter.”

A professor of medicine since 1981, Hunninghake, 65, was director of the university's Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. He told Chicago police he was stabbed and robbed while jogging in downtown Chicago on April 24, 2010, the day after he was put on leave at the UI.

Hunninghake later admitted to Chicago police that he'd stabbed himself. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in Cook County, Ill.

Hunninghake was charged by the Board of Medicine with inappropriately viewing pictures of nude children and other inappropriate sexual material on the Internet at work; engaging in a sexual relationship with a subordinate female staff member; inappropriately accessing the medical records of a female staff member without her knowledge or permission; and inappropriately prescribing himself steroids and other medications.

The incidents took place primarily between 2006 and 2008, according to board documents.