Geek Squad to the Rescue

​Twenty-nine-year-old Matthew Ruff, a bio-medical engineer, interned last year at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He also pleaded guilty yesterday to a federal child pornography charge, which will result in at least a few years in federal prison, lifetime supervision and up to a $250,000 fine should the court accept his plea. And how, exactly, did the feds discover Ruff was in possession of the material? Here, an excerpt from the press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office that just landed in the Unfair Park in-box:

According to plea documents filed, on June 15, 2008, Ruff requested a computer repairman from Best Buy to come to his home to repair his computer. When the computer repairman analyzed the computer, he noticed a hard drive failure and told Ruff to take the computer back to the store. However, Ruff insisted that the repairman fix it there. When the computer repairman began copying the hard drive, he saw that Ruff was using Limewire file-sharing software and informed Ruff that the would have to scan Limewire for viruses and spyware. While he was scanning, he noticed that the computer was downloading numerous files indicative of child pornography. He also saw several files of child pornography located in other folders. After checking with his superiors to find out what to do, the repairman called the Dallas Police Department.

Update at 11:55 a.m.: From UT Southwestern spokesman John Walls comes this addendum regarding Ruff's employment status: "He is not a medical center employee. He was a student intern who worked in the temporary pool until his contract expired in 2008. Institutional police records indicate no issues with this individual during his employment." The item has been updated to reflect Walls's note.