WASHINGTON (NCN News) — A former ECU professor was sentenced to 3 and half years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for the possession of child sexual abuse material.
According to court documents, Blace Arthur Nalavany, 59, of Winterville, possessed images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Nalavany pleaded guilty to the charge on March 11.
According to evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, Nalavany was an associate professor of social work at East Carolina University in Greenville and a licensed clinical social worker, at the time of his arrest. His research publications include research into children who had experienced child sexual abuse. According to evidence in the case, the crime Nalavany was convicted of was committed at his home and was not connected to his employment or to any work as a licensed clinical social worker.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney W. Ellis Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI Charlotte Field Office, Greenville Resident Agency and the FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit investigated the case in collaboration with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen K. Haughton for the Eastern District of North Carolina prosecuted the case.