Dr. Zaid Haddad, an assistant lecturer of interdisciplinary studies and curriculum, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday afternoon at the UTSA Main Campus.

A post published on UTSA Reddit depicts a photo of Haddad being detained by officers in plain clothing. Conversations started in the post’s comment section, with users speculating the reason for Haddad’s arrest being centered around immigration issues.

“This guy is a professor according to another student that came in, ‘dr haddad,’ we saw them cuff his ankles and pat him down so [it] might not be a hit & run,” read one of the comments.

The FBI and UTSA responded with a statement confirming it had no relation to immigration.

“This is the UTSA Social Media team. Reports that ICE are on campus are untrue. Law enforcement officials arrested a faculty member in a criminal investigation unrelated to the university,” read a post by UTSA’s official account.

“I can confirm that the FBI, with the assistance of [the] UTSA Police Department, executed court-authorized law enforcement activity at that location,” a spokesperson related to the FBI said. “This matter was not an immigration-related operation.”

According to an arrest affidavit, Haddad was in his apartment viewing child abuse material from his computer. During a search warrant executed in July of 2021, one of the alleged child porn videos was displayed on his TV. 181 video links were reportedly viewed by the suspect through a Telegram messaging application. Haddad also allegedly viewed live streams of child pornography through Zoom.

Following his arrest at UTSA, the university has put Haddad on administrative paid leave “pending the outcome of the case.”

The FBI has referred all questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office at this time.

If found guilty, Haddad faces up to 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. The Paisano is following this developing story as the investigation proceeds.