Carbondale, IL–(ENEWSPF)– Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Friday a new initiative of her office to crackdown on the trafficking of child pornography. As a result of the first wave of investigations under the initiative, Madigan said a Carbondale man was arrested on multiple counts of possessing child pornography.
William Wilson, 21, of Carbondale was arrested and charged with four counts of possession of child pornography, a Class 3 felony, punishable by two to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, Madigan said in a prepared statement.
“Child pornography is an escalating epidemic – here in Illinois and across the nation. My office is committed to protecting children from this scourge. Today, I want to put child pornographers in Illinois on notice that we will track you down and punish you to the full extent of the law,” said Attorney General Madigan.
Madigan commended the Carbondale Police Department and Jackson County State’s Attorney Mike Wepsic’s office who assisted in the arrest of Wilson on Thursday – the first arrest under this new push.
Investigators from the Attorney General’s office can track pornographers using Internet protocol – IP – addresses, which are unique identifiers for individual computers.
This new push to track down child pornographers is in direct relation to the enormity of the problem. In the past 30 days, more than 8,000 Illinois IP addresses were seen trading child pornography images and videos.
“Unfortunately, child pornographers are in every community in Illinois – from Chicago to Carbondale, Danville to Quincy,” said Madigan. “Through this new initiative, we are working with local law enforcement to target child pornographers in Illinois. Let me be crystal clear – we know who you are. If you are dealing in child pornography, you need to ask yourself, ‘Is today the day I will be arrested — the day I will be handcuffed and taken from my home and charged with felony offenses?’”
Madigan stressed that pornography is not a victimless crime. A majority of those depicted in child pornography images have yet to reach the age of puberty, and many are literally infants and toddlers.
“Aside from the initial horror of these crimes, each time these videos or images are viewed, these innocent children are victimized yet again,” said Madigan.
A total of 24,494 sex offenders are registered in Illinois. More than 81 percent of those are child sex offenders
