Glenview College Student Sent Child Porn To Partner For 'Fetish Purposes,' Prosecutors Say

SKOKIE, IL — A judge on Wednesday ordered a college student who lives with his parents in Glenview to remain jailed while awaiting trial on a charge of dissemination of child pornography.

Nathaniel Sullivan, 22, is accused of sending child sexual abuse materials to a romantic partner as part of a sexual fetish.

Prosecutors said Sullivan sent seven videos via Snapchat to another user, who responded with sexual messages about that user's "kiddo friends."

After waiving his constitutional right against self-incrimination, Sullivan identified the other user as his romantic partner and admitted sending the files "for fetish purposes," according to prosecutors.

All the children depicted in the videos are under age 13, according to the charges.

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Sullivan is a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he is majoring in finance and marketing, according to his attorney, who said this was the first time he has ever had any issue with law enforcement. He also works as a salesperson at an area sporting goods chain.

Glenview detectives began investigating the case in December 2022 based on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which had received information from Snapchat that a user associated with Sullivan's Gmail account had shared suspected child pornography.

Police got a warrant for the account, traced it to Sullivan and his Glenview home, and went to interview him in June. At that point, Sullivan had admitted sending the video, but police waited until Aug. 13 to arrest him.

Cook County Circuit Judge Mary Sevandal Cohen granted prosecutors' petition to deny Sullivan pretrial release on the basis of his danger to the community, finding there were no conditions short of detention that could avoid the threat he poses.

"This crime, dissemination of child pornography, is in and of itself, in the court's view, a violent offense that is placing a very vulnerable population of our community in danger. [Sullivan's] actions and his acts pose a real and present threat to the safety of these often unnamed victims of child pornography," Cohen said Wednesday at Sullivan's initial court appearance in Skokie.

"Courts have found that the deleterious effect of disseminating child pornography creates a higher supply and demand for child pornography, therefore increasing the danger of child pornography in the community," she said. "By engaging in these actions, [Sullivan] has shown that he does pose a real and present threat to the safety of, particularly, the most vulnerable members of our society."

Sullivan is due back in court Sept. 5 in Skokie.