UW-Madison comparative literature Professor Lewis Keith Cohen will appear in court March 31 to face charges of child enticement and use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, according to a criminal complaint filed last Tuesday.
Cohen is currently out on bail and the charges against him became official at an initial hearing in the case held Friday.
The charges follow Cohen's March 15 arrest in a Milwaukee suburb where he had arranged to meet a 14-year-old boy, allegedly to commit a sex crime.
According to the complaint, Cohen had actually been corresponding with members of Milwaukee's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
After the 14-year-old's concerned mother notified Milwaukee authorities, officers on the task force posed as the boy, continuing to exchange e-mails with Cohen and eventually arranging the meeting in Greendale, Wis., where Cohen was apprehended.
Cohen had \expressed an interest in engaging in sexual conduct with the boy in Milwaukee,"" said a source in the Milwaukee Police Department who asked to remain anonymous.
Following his arrest, the Comparative Literature Department immediately placed Cohen on an ""indefinite paid administrative leave,"" according to UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas.
The university will determine Cohen's status after the completion of an internal investigation, separate from the criminal case, to determine if he violated any university policies, Lucas said.
Cohen allegedly e-mailed naked pictures of himself to the boy and engaged in sexually explicit conversations on Yahoo messenger and the website www.guysformen.com, a police source said.
Lucas reported university officials have seized Cohen's office computer and will examine it for evidence of misuse.
Cohen has been a member of the university faculty since 1974 and was teaching ""Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Literature"" and ""Literature and the Other Arts"" this semester.
According to Mary Layoun, UW-Madison Comparative Literature Department chair, his ""Introduction to Modern and Comparative Literature"" lectures will be covered by TAs and other faculty members.
The university is currently seeking a visiting professor to step in and instruct ""Literature and the Other Arts,"" Layoun said.
""Our first concern is the students and how they're affected by this,"" she said.
Milwaukee police released Cohen on $20,000 bail last week, but if convicted, he could face a fine of $100,000 or more, or a maximum sentence of 25 years of jail time for each charge.
""Both the department and the college are deeply saddened by the serious charges filed against Cohen,"" Layoun said. She added the university's main concern remains ""preserving some sense of integrity for the students.\
