A federal grand jury indicted a Washington man Tuesday on child pornography charges.
Kevin D. Jones, 39, of the 200 block of Court Drive, Washington, allegedly received child pornography on or about
Feb. 24 via the Internet. He was arrested March 19.
It was not his first offense. Jones was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Ogle County in 1999 and received 180 days in jail and 36 months probation, according to Ogle County court records. He was also convicted of possession of child pornography in Peoria County in 1999 and received 70 days in jail and 36 months probation, according to Peoria County Court records.
Jones allegedly was communicating via the Internet with women who have minor female children, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
Washington Police Department Detective Sgt. Jeff Stevens said the department started investigating Jones about two months after a concerned parent called and said he was always hanging around kids and was on the sex-offender registration list.
Stevens said it is not yet known how many child porn images Jones has on his computer. It is still being examined.
Jones was apprehended as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
The Washington Police Department joined the Project Safe Child task force two years ago and have helped apprehend more than a dozen child sex offenders who use the Internet to stalk victims, said Washington Police Chief Jim Kuchenbecker.
Kuchenbecker came to Washington from Chicago five years ago where he worked on similar cases. A Secret Service agent came to him three years ago and asked the department to become a part of the task force.
Kuchenbecker agreed.
“We are just very fortunate to be a part of the task force,” said Kuchenbecker. “We’ve been working with the task force for two years — I’m very proud of my guys.”
Kuchenbecker said two Washington detectives are assigned to spend part of their time working with the task force.
The department does not have the resources to dedicate two detectives full time. Kuchenbecker said people need to be made more aware of the child predators who stalk children on the Internet at sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.
“We recognize that Internet crimes against children are on the rise,” he said. “Children are one of our most precious resources.
