
Two canines assisted investigators who found a Waukegan man allegedly possessing child pornography while he was on pre-trial release for sexually abusing children.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office Cyber Crimes Division and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and Waukegan Police Department, arrested Jose Paz-Hernandez, 22, of Waukegan, on Thursday.
Investigators conducted an investigation after receiving a cyber tip that child pornography was being uploaded to online cloud storage from Paz-Hernandez’s residence in the 3000 block of Kathe Lane in Waukegan.
Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office Canine Grip and Lake County Sheriff’s Office Canine Tera assisted during the search and helped locate electronic devices.
The state’s attorney’s office’s Cyber Lab conducted an analysis on the seized devices and discovered several files of child sexual abuse material on Paz-Hernandez’s computer and an online storage account, prosecutors said.
Paz-Hernandez was charged with 10 counts of child pornography, a Class 2 felony.
Additional charges may be filed pending the completion of the forensic analysis.
“With new technology and a dedicated team in our office, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and alongside all our law enforcement partners, we will locate and apprehend those who threaten the safety of our children and our community. Our prosecutors will hold them accountable in the courtroom,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
“This arrest highlights the exceptional work of our detectives and the critical collaboration between the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office,” Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg said.
“By combining our resources, including our sheriff’s electronics detection canine, K9 Tera(byte), we are unwavering in our commitment to identifying and apprehending individuals who exploit and harm children. We will always invest our resources on protecting the most vulnerable members of our community,” Idleburg said.
Court records show Paz-Hernandez was on pre-trial release at the time of his arrest in two separate sex crimes cases in Lake County.
He had been charged on November 26 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for a February 2, 2022, incident in Waukegan and five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for alleged crimes that occurred on July 1, 2023, and October 30, 2023, in Waukegan.
Prosecutors said a 14-year-old girl reported Paz-Hernandez forced her to have sex with him at his apartment after the two communicated on Snapchat.
Prosecutors said Paz-Hernandez knew the first victim’s age but said “age was just a number.”
The victim in the second case was also a 14-year-old girl. She was a family member of Paz-Hernandez and reported that she had sex with the man multiple times a week.
The state’s attorney’s office had filed petitions to detain Paz-Hernandez in those cases.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim denied the petitions during a detention hearing on December 12 and released him with pre-trial conditions.
The judge said that because charges were not brought against Paz-Hernandez for such a lengthy time between the time the incidents were reported he cannot make a finding that there are no conditions of release to ensure the community’s safety.
“The State decided to let this defendant remain at large for over a year before bringing charges,” Nerheim said during the December 12 detention hearing.
Paz-Hernandez was placed on a curfew and electronic home monitoring and ordered to have no contact with the victims and no access to electronic devices.
Prosecutors have since filed a new petition to detain Paz-Hernandez and petitions to revoke his pre-trial release following his latest arrest.
A detention hearing was set for Friday but was delayed until Monday.