Offender Was Most Prolific Child Porn Trader Under Investigation by Madigan’s Operation Glass House
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser announced charges today against a Sangamon County man on multiple counts of possessing and distributing child pornography as part of “Operation Glass House,” her statewide initiative to apprehend the most active offenders who download and trade child pornography online.
Jacob R. Stark, 26, of Chatham, was arrested early this morning after investigators with Madigan’s office executed a search warrant at his place of employment, the Capital Area Career Center in Springfield. Stark was charged in Sangamon County with five counts of distribution of child pornography, a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison, and five counts of possession of child pornography, a Class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years in prison. A bond hearing was set for Friday.
At the time of Stark’s arrest, Madigan said, he was the most prolific trader of child pornography online under investigation by Madigan’s High Tech Crimes Bureau. An IP – or internet protocol – address traced to Stark was allegedly seen trading more than 14,000 files of child pornography.
“Viewing and trading child pornography is not an innocent act but a terrible crime that perpetuates the sexual assault of children,” Madigan said. “This crime destroys the lives of these innocent victims and only serves to revictimize them when it spreads online.”
This is the 69th arrest of Operation Glass House, which Madigan launched in 2010 to investigate and arrest offenders trading child pornography online. The operation’s investigations are conducted by Madigan’s High Tech Crimes Bureau and have revealed a disturbing community of criminals who are trading and viewing extremely violent videos of children as young as infants being raped and abused.
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office will prosecute the case.
“We will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners to get these dangerous individuals off the street and protect our most vulnerable population, our children,” said State’s Attorney Milhiser.
In addition to Operation Glass House, Madigan leads the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The Task Force investigates child exploitation crimes and trains local and county level law enforcement agencies throughout Illinois to do the same. Since 2006, Madigan’s ICAC task force has been involved in 825 arrests of sexual predators. The task force has also provided Internet safety training and education to more than 372,000 parents, teachers and students and nearly 18,000 law enforcement professionals.
The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.