Ex-School Bus Driver Gets 20 Years On Child Porn Charges

KENDALL COUNTY, IL — A former school bus driver for Sandwich School District 430 was turned over to the Illinois Department of Corrections on Tuesday by the Kendall County Sheriff's Office. Daniel Lee Aldrich, 62, accepted a plea deal and was sentenced by the 23rd Judicial Circuit Court to 20 years' imprisonment on child pornography charges on the very same day, according to court documents.

The Kendall County Sheriff's Office first received a tip that Aldrich was involved in child pornography in July 2018, a press release from the sheriff's office said. The tip came from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and launched a criminal investigation.

Over the course of eight months, county detectives amassed enough evidence to charge Aldrich with multiple felony counts of possession of child pornography, dissemination of child pornography and unauthorized video recording.

Sheriff's reports indicate Aldrich faced 24 felony counts.

According to a press release from the sheriff’s department:

"On October 25, 2018, the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges against Daniel Lee Aldrich, a 61 year old male from the 0-50 block of Sandra Court, unincorporated Little Rock Township, with seven counts of Child Pornography (two counts of Dissemination; a class X felony and five counts of Possession; a class 2 felony)."

Aldrich was taken into custody not long after the initial three-month investigation, but posted his $5,000 bail on Nov. 5, 2019.

According to police, further search warrants helped uncover a large amount of digital evidence, including "surreptitiously recorded video of children." All of the victims involved in the videos have been identified and located. Aldrich was additionally charged with the following:

• Possession of child pornography (Six counts; four being class X felonies, one being a class 2 felony, and one being a Class 3 felony)
• Unauthorized video recording (eleven counts; eight being class 3 felonies, two being class 4 felonies)"

Another warrant for Aldrich's arrest was posted on March 20, 2019. Police said Aldrich turned himself in the next day and was taken into the custody with a $100,000 bond. Kendall County Detective Bryan Harl told Patch Aldrich was able to post bail once again, and was released in March while awaiting trial.

Aldrich accepted a plea deal on Tuesday. As part of the deal, the Kendall County State’s Attorney dropped many of the charges against him, but maintained the most serious ones.

Aldrich was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment with the Illinois Department of Corrections, minus nine days of time served. He was also added to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

As of Wednesday, Jan. 22, he was being held in Kendall County Jail. Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis said Aldrich would be transferred to a more permanent facility in the coming days.