In his first appearance before a judge on Wednesday, the UH math lecturer arrested earlier this week received a bond of $500,000.
He stands accused of five counts of possessing child pornography — with $100,000 added to his bail for each count. Under his bond conditions, Chang cannot access the internet or have contact with anyone under the age of 17. Chang is expected to appear before a judge Nov. 29 where he will be read his official charges.
In Texas, possession of child pornography is considered a third-degree felony charge. However, it remains unclear whether each individual charge will result in separate convictions. If they do, Chang could face a punishment as serious as life in prison.
The news of Chang’s arrest has come as a shock to the UH community. His RateMyProfessor score currently sits at a lofty 4.6, with 99% of previous students saying they would take him again.
Psychology sophomore Lillyan Arriaga said the charges shattered her opinion of Chang, who she once thought of as an excellent instructor.
“This entire situation feels like something from a movie, or a crime show. But it’s not, it’s the reality of the world we live in with defenseless children paying the price,” Arriaga said. “I hope he never had the chance to physically harm a child or teen. And I hope he gets the mental help he clearly needs along with prosecution to the highest extent for his disturbing crimes.”
Arriaga said she learned about Chang’s arrest after leaving her usual 11:30 a.m. class with the former mathematics lecturer. Initially, she said students assumed the arrest stemmed from parking tickets or other minor infractions.
“I got a message in our class GroupMe that he had allegedly been arrested,” Arriaga said. “None of us really believed it at first. We all made a bunch of silly jokes about it being from a parking ticket violation or missing a court date for said ticket.”
Initial optimistic assumptions were quashed when Arriaga’s classmates shared videos of ABC13’s coverage of Chang’s arrest and charges.
It remains to be seen whether or not Chang will post the $500,000 bail before his arraignment hearing in late November.
