A high-ranking Rutgers University dean faces criminal invasion-of-privacy charges after investigators say they found secret "upskirt" recordings on his phone, and the school confirms he is still drawing a paycheck.
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced Tuesday that Joshua Kohut, 51, the Dean of Research at Rutgers' School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, was charged with fourth-degree invasion of privacy for allegedly using his mobile phone to record videos beneath a victim's clothing without that person's knowledge. Kohut, a resident of Cranbury, New Jersey, was released on bail, the New York Post reported.
If convicted, Kohut faces up to 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Rutgers placed him on administrative leave and banned him from campus, but confirmed he remains on paid leave while the case moves forward.
Investigators from the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice executed a search warrant Monday at a location tied to Kohut and seized five electronic devices. A forensic review of those devices turned up recordings on one of them showing, in the language of the criminal complaint, an unidentified person's "undergarment-clad intimate parts."
The complaint indicates Kohut and the victim "may have known each other in some capacity." The Attorney General's office said it was unable to comment on whether Kohut targeted students.
That unanswered question matters. Kohut held a senior leadership role at a major public university. Students, staff, and faculty all fell within his professional orbit. The state has not said how many recordings exist, or whether additional victims may surface.
Davenport and the Division of Criminal Justice issued a joint press release encouraging anyone who believes they may have been victimized to contact Lt. Jon Norcia of the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety.
The attorney general spoke bluntly. In a statement announcing the charge, Davenport said:
"An invasion of privacy like this is not just disturbing, it is also a criminal act. We will prosecute accordingly."
Rutgers responded with its own statement to the Post, saying the university had "placed Josh Kohut on administrative leave after being informed of the extremely disturbing charges." The school added that the research dean "is also banned from campus pending the outcome of an investigation."
The university did not specify whether its own internal investigation is separate from the criminal case, or what standard of review it will apply. It confirmed only that Kohut remains on paid leave, meaning New Jersey taxpayers and tuition-paying families are, for now, still funding his salary.
Kohut's ties to the university run deep. He first arrived at Rutgers as a graduate student roughly 28 years ago and rose through the ranks as a staff member, faculty member, and administrator. He also holds a professorship in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences on the New Brunswick campus, one of Rutgers' three regional campuses in New Jersey.
In January 2025, the university announced his appointment as Dean of Research at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. A Rutgers announcement at the time said Kohut "has experienced the university in many capacities: student, staff, faculty, and administrator" and described him as "an active member of the Executive Dean's leadership team."
That glowing institutional biography now reads like a reminder of how much trust a university places in its senior leaders, and how little accountability exists when that trust is allegedly violated in the most invasive way possible.
Several gaps remain in the public record. Investigators have not disclosed where the alleged filming took place, on campus, off campus, or both. They have not said how many videos were recovered, only that recordings were found on one of the five seized devices. The identity of the victim has not been released, and prosecutors have not clarified the nature of the relationship between Kohut and the person recorded.
The Attorney General's office pointedly declined to say whether students were among those targeted. That silence does nothing to reassure the thousands of families sending their children to New Brunswick every semester. If the state knows the answer, it owes the Rutgers community a clear statement, not a "no comment."
Fourth-degree invasion of privacy in New Jersey, the charge Kohut faces, is a lower-tier indictable offense. An 18-month maximum sentence and a $10,000 fine may strike many observers as a modest consequence for a senior university official accused of secretly recording someone's body. Whether additional charges follow will depend on what forensic examiners find on the remaining four devices and whether other victims come forward.
Parents who write tuition checks to Rutgers deserve to know how a man entrusted with a dean's authority allegedly used that position, and whether the institution that elevated him will do more than put him on paid leave and wait.
