Former A&M administrator pleads to child sex charges

Former A&M administrator pleads to child sex charges
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5303860.html
Associated Press Nov. 15, 2007, 7:00AM

BRYAN — A Brazos County jury has begun hearing testimony in the punishment hearing for a former Texas A&M University administrator who pleaded guilty to seven child sex charges. Brian Lancaster, 36, pleaded guilty this week to five counts of indecency with a child by contact, one count of criminal solicitation of a minor and one count of indecency with a child by exposure. "We believe the evidence will show that Brian Lancaster is salvageable as a human being. His life is too important and too significant to be flushed away forever," defense attorney Philip Banks said Wednesday. Lancaster, the former assistant director of Texas A&M's study abroad program, was arrested at his office in January. Police began investigating Lancaster after two young sisters told their mother that Lancaster tried to take their clothes off or touch them while they waited at his home to take piano lessons from his former wife. Police later confiscated four computers containing 25 child pornography videos, including five videos made by Lancaster involving a 5-year-old girl. Prosecutors have said they will pursue an additional 102 child pornography charges against Lancaster. He has been held in the Brazos County Jail since his arrest with bond set at $2.8 million. The five indecency by contact charges are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison, while the charges of solicitation and exposure are punishable by 10 years each but must be served concurrently.