Lake Forest Man Indicted On 10 Counts Of Child Pornography Possession

WAUKEGAN, IL — A Lake Forest man accused of uploading his collection of videos depicting child sexual abuse onto cloud backup servers last year was indicted Wednesday on 10 counts of possession of child pornography, authorities said.

Paul Salgan, 41, was arrested on a four-count warrant last month in connection with a Lake Forest police investigation that began April 7, 2021, when Cook County's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force forwarded a tip from Verizon's cloud storage provider to their counterparts to the north, records show.

On April 15, 2021, cable company representatives told police that the internet address that the storage provider reported had been used to upload sexually explicit videos of children could be traced to Salgan's parent's home in Lake Forest, police reported.

Salgan had a Lake Bluff address, but he was found to be living in his parent's Lake Forest home when investigators from the Lake County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force decided to visit him for an interview on Nov. 16, 2021, according to reports from police and prosecutors.

His parents described him as a "hoarder" who runs an Amazon-based online business selling DVDs out of their basement, police reported.

Salgan voluntarily spoke to investigators, telling them that he had tried to back up his Verizon phone about six months earlier — about the same time police first received a tip. Salgan said his phone broke inexplicably and so he took it to a repair shop in Highland Park.

According to police, Salgan said he would visit paid subscription file-sharing websites to view pornographic materials on a daily basis.

"Salgan advised the websites he visited contained videos of people who were approximately 13-20 years old, who were usually nude and having conversations online with people who were telling them what to do," police reported.

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During his interview with investigators last year, Salgan said he did not chat directly with people in the webcam videos, but he did download videos of child sexual abuse onto his phone, according to police. Officers reported that he voluntarily showed them videos and video thumbnails of child pornography on his phone.

In January, the owner of the Highland Park cell phone store where Salgan took his broken phone handed it over to police, explaining that he had been unable to fix it.

In July, Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Fiscz approved felony charges in the case — four counts of class 2 felony possession of child pornography, which are punishable by a sentence ranging from probation to seven years.

Lake County Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak signed a warrant on July 7, setting the cash portion of Salgan's bond at $20,000.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart thanked Lake Forest police and investigators from his office who collaborated in the probe.

"We will continue to use the newest technology to make sure our children are kept safe,” Rinehart said in a statement.

Salgan is due back in court on Sept. 28 for an arraignment.

Patch requested additional information about the case from a spokesperson for Rinehart's office, including the nature of the new counts and what conditions of bail, if any, prosecutors sought in the case. Any information received will be added here.