Former University of Pittsburgh student facing child porn charges

PITTSBURGH — Stephen Cheney, 23, a recent University of Pittsburgh graduate, is charged with three felony counts of possessing child pornography while he was a student at Pitt.

Allegheny County Police filed an arrest warrant Monday, but as of Tuesday morning, he was not in custody.

Cheney’s LinkedIn profile shows he graduated from Pitt in May with a degree in computational biology. That was confirmed by a university spokesperson, who also said Cheney is no longer affiliated with the school.

During his time at Pitt, Cheney is accused of possessing and uploading child pornography to multiple online sites. According to police paperwork, the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children received seven cyber tips about accounts allegedly connected to Cheney. They came from Google, Kik, Discord and Dropbox, and accused Cheney of uploading or accessing child pornography on their platforms dating back to July 2021.

After months of investigating, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for Cheney’s McKee Place apartment in Oakland this April. The criminal complaint details the search, saying police seized multiple electronic devices, including Cheney’s cellphone.

During his time at Pitt, UPMC confirms Cheney volunteered at the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research, which is part of the Rangos Research Center at UPMC Children’s Hospital.

A statement from UPMC states, in part, “This person did not work in a clinical setting, was not employed by UPMC and did not have contact with patients.” The organization also said Cheney passed a background check prior to his volunteer work.

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