Sangamon County man arrested for child
pornography
Offender was most prolific child porn trader
under investigation by Madigan’s Operation Glass House
Send a link to a friend
[September 26, 2014]
CHICAGO ─ Attorney General Lisa
Madigan and Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser announced
charges today against a Sangamon County man on multiple counts of
possessing and distributing child pornography as part of “Operation
Glass House,” her statewide initiative to apprehend the most active
offenders who download and trade child pornography online.
|
Jacob R. Stark, 26, of Chatham, was arrested early this morning
after investigators with Madigan’s office executed a search warrant
at his place of employment, the Capital Area Career Center in
Springfield. Stark was charged in Sangamon County with five counts
of distribution of child pornography, a Class X felony punishable by
six to 30 years in prison, and five counts of possession of child
pornography, a Class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years in
prison. A bond hearing was set for Friday.
At the time of Stark’s arrest, Madigan said, he was the most
prolific trader of child pornography online under investigation by
Madigan’s High Tech Crimes Bureau. An IP – or internet protocol –
address traced to Stark was allegedly seen trading more than 14,000
files of child pornography.
“Viewing and trading child pornography is not an innocent act but a
terrible crime that perpetuates the sexual assault of children,”
Madigan said. “This crime destroys the lives of these innocent
victims and only serves to revictimize them when it spreads online.”
This is the 69th arrest of Operation Glass House, which Madigan
launched in 2010 to investigate and arrest offenders trading child
pornography online. The operation’s investigations are conducted by
Madigan’s High Tech Crimes Bureau and have revealed a disturbing
community of criminals who are trading and viewing extremely violent
videos of children as young as infants being raped and abused.
[to top of second column] |
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office will prosecute the
case.
“We will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners
to get these dangerous individuals off the street and protect our
most vulnerable population, our children,” said State’s Attorney
Milhiser.
In addition to Operation Glass House, Madigan leads the Illinois
Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) with a grant from
the U.S. Department of Justice. The Task Force investigates child
exploitation crimes and trains local and county level law
enforcement agencies throughout Illinois to do the same. Since 2006,
Madigan’s ICAC task force has been involved in 825 arrests of sexual
predators. The task force has also provided Internet safety training
and education to more than 372,000 parents, teachers and students
and nearly 18,000 law enforcement professionals.
The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until
proven guilty in a court of law.
[Illinois Attorney General Lisa
Madigan] |