A Texas man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for soliciting sexually explicit videos and photographs from a McHenry County child through Snapchat.
Lemar E. Williams, 19, of Madisonville, Texas, was charged in May 2024 with four counts of solicitation of child pornography, four counts of possession of child pornography and four counts of manufacturing harmful material.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Williams on January 19, 2024, for solicitation and possession of sexually explicit videos and photographs of a child.
The investigation revealed that Williams had contacted a child from McHenry County through the social media app Snapchat, prosecutors said.
A search into Williams’s text exchanges with the victim determined he had persuaded the child to send him multiple sexually explicit videos and photographs, prosecutors said.
Court records show Williams entered into a negotiated plea agreement with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office last month.
He pleaded guilty to one count of solicitation of child pornography, a Class X felony, in exchange for a 10-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC).
The plea agreement was accepted by McHenry County Judge Mark Gerhardt. Williams will be placed on mandatory supervised release for at least three years up to natural life.
He will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese said she thanks the victim and their family, whose courage was “paramount to seeing that justice was done in this case.”
“While our office works diligently for all victims of crime in our county, we are especially motivated to protect our county’s youth,” Freese said.