Ex-UNC AIDS researcher indicted on federal porn charges

A federal grand jury on Monday indicted former UNC pharmacy researcher Kuo Hsiung Yang on two criminal counts of receiving and possessing child pornography computer files last year.

The federal indictment follows a state indictment on similar charges that an Orange County grand jury returned against Yang late last year.

Yang has been in custody in the Orange County Jail since Nov. 12 in lieu of $500,000 bail.

One federal charge is that Yang received pornography involving minors between Feb. 24 and March 4, 2015. The federal jurisdiction is based on investigators telling the grand jury that the computer files had been moved to Yang across state or international borders.

The other charge is that Yang had child pornography in his possession when he was arrested Nov. 12.

The state indictment of Yang alleged 10 counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor. That charge covers duplicating, sending or receiving pornographic material involving someone under 18.

The FBI served federal arrest warrants on Yang on Tuesday.

Yang’s resume states that he came to the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012 from the pharmacy school at the University of Buffalo, part of the New York State university system.

He said he earned a Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of California, San Francisco in 2010. His research has focused on AIDS and HIV.

Yang’s employee listing has been deleted from UNC’s online campus directory.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 7:52 AM with the headline "Ex-UNC AIDS researcher indicted on federal porn charges."