‘An Abhorrent Crime': Local Man Gets 20 Years In Child Porn Case

By Sam Borcia, the Lake & McHenry County Scanner:

A Huntley man who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Illinois attorney general announced.

Jeffrey L. Gwin, 59, of Huntley, pleaded guilty in February to five counts of possession of child pornography, a Class 1 felony.

Gwin was arrested in June 2019 after investigators from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the Huntley Police Department executed a search warrant at Gwin’s Huntley home and discovered evidence of child pornography.

The man was previously convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in 1992, authorities said.

“Child pornography is an abhorrent crime that exploits innocent children and their families each time an image is downloaded or shared,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at the time of Gwin’s arrest.

Prosecutors said that Gwin possessed child pornography involving a victim under the age of 13, which he uploaded to the cloud.

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Gwin was sentenced by Kane County Circuit Judge John Barsanti on Tuesday to 20 years in prison. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

“The trauma associated with child pornography is perpetuated each time one of these horrific images is downloaded and shared,” Raoul said.

“I appreciate the partnership of the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office and will continue to work with local law enforcement to protect Illinois communities from these offenders,” he added.

Gwin was separately charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person.

He pleaded guilty to that charge in February and was sentenced earlier this month to four years in prison. That sentence and the sentence for the child pornography conviction will run consecutively.

“The possession of child pornography is not a victimless crime,” Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said. “These children continue to be victimized every time someone views or disseminates these images and videos.”

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Prosecutors said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Huntley Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the case.

Lake and McHenry County Scanner is a local breaking news website covering issues that matter such as shootings, stabbings, house fires, kidnappings, car accidents, and more around Lake County and McHenry County.