Twice-arrested Radford professor is banned from university campus
Taj Alexander Mahon-Haft
Saturday, March 23, 2013
A Radford University criminal justice professor arrested twice this month on possession of drugs and child pornography charges has been suspended from campus, a university official wrote in an email late Friday.
Taj Mahon-Haft, 36 , of Radford was indicted on March 8 for possession of marijuana and synthetic drugs often referred to as “bath salts.” He was arrested but released on a $5,000 unsecured bond.
While analyzing computers seized from Mahon-Haft’s home in connection with the drug charges, police also found computer images that led to the child pornography investigation. The professor was rearrested Thursday and incarcerated in the New River Valley Regional Jail on 24 counts of possession of child pornography. A secured bond was set at $10,000.
According to Vinelink, an online service used by the state of Virginia, Mahon-Haft was bonded out of jail on Friday.
Because of the seriousness of the child pornography charges, Mahon-Haft was suspended Friday from the Radford campus and any university satellite facilities, university spokesman Joe Carpenter wrote in an e-mail.
Mahon-Haft had previously been suspended from classroom teaching, but was allowed to continue with research and other duties. Carpenter wrote that Mahon-Haft’s salary remains unaffected at this time.