FRESNO - A federal grand jury returned an indictment today against the University of the Pacific Professor Rodger Githens, 45, of West Sacramento, charging him with the receipt and distributing images of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. According to court documents, in late March 2023, Githens, using the profile “Tall laid back,” initiated contact with an account on the Grindr app controlled by an undercover FBI agent. Githens encouraged the undercover FBI agent to establish an account with the Telegram app since it was considered more secure.

Githens several times discussed traveling to Fresno to meet the agent and a supposed 7-year-old niece for sexual purposes. Still, law enforcement served a search warrant at Githens’s residence on April 19, 2023, and seized multiple electronic devices. Agents discovered numerous Telegram chats on Githens’s phone, including several in which he exchanged and commented on videos of young children being sexually abused.

If convicted, Githens faces five to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, a lifetime of supervised release, and forfeiture of any property used to facilitate the commission of the offense. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after considering any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which consider several variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.