UT Tyler employee arrested for hosting child pornography online
Posted/updated on: February 4, 2025 at 3:43 pm
HENDERSON COUNTY – According to our news partner KETK, a UT Tyler employee was reportedly hosting child pornography online before he was arrested on Thursday, arrest records have revealed. A criminal investigator for the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office Crimes Against Children Task Force started an investigation after they found at least one file of interest to child porn investigations being hosted on the BitTorrent network, which is designed for people to share files with one another.
Using a computer running investigative BitTorrent software, the investigator was able to find a direct connection to a singular IP address which let them download files being hosted by that address.
On Tuesday, Nov.12 between 11:30 and 11:58 p.m., a download of two files of interest was completed.
One file was a video that depicted two white girls who were both under the age of 15 performing a various sexual acts. Another download was conducted later that same day and that video reportedly contained a girl under 7-years-old, according to arrest documents.
Then on Nov. 16, two more downloads were completed by the investigator. The investigator reported in an arrest affidavit that one video contained a boy under 14-years-old and the other video contained a girl under 17-years-old and a boy believed to be under 6-years-old.
An administrative subpoena was sent to Optimum/CSC Holdings LLC on Dec. 6. and on Dec. 28, Optimum sent back a name, telephone number and service address associated with the IP address that the videos were downloaded from.
On Jan. 23, a search warrant was executed at 664 Wiley Drive. Brandon Baschnagel was the lone occupant of the house and arrest records said he claimed to lived alone for the past three years.
While investigating the home, a Samsung Galaxy phone along with an iPhone 11 were confiscated and taken in for further forensics. While investigating the device, officials identified the videos matching the ones they discovered in November.
Mugshot of Brandon Baschnagel, courtesy of Henderson County Jail.
Brandon Reeves Baschnagel, 41 of Bullard, was arrested by the University of Texas at Tyler Police Department on Thursday, Jan. 30 for possession with intent to promote child pornography.
A UT Tyler representative said that Baschnagel worked for the university as an audio/visual technician but has since been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Baschnagel was later booked into the Henderson County Jail on a total bond of $275,000.
