A judge denied pre-trial release to a Gurnee school teacher and coach who allegedly disseminated child sexual abuse material and shared images of students from social media with other sexual predators.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from a social media company that one of their users may have shared child pornography with another user of their platform.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said sheriff’s detectives began an investigation and determined the likely source was coming from a residence in the 300 block of Buckingham Drive in Grayslake.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the residence and conducted the warrant on Thursday with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
Covelli said detectives recovered the device likely used to share child pornography by the offender, identified as Todd R. Fowler, 47, who lives at the residence.
Detectives learned that Fowler is a teacher at Woodland Elementary School in Gurnee.
Detectives believe that in addition to possessing and disseminating child pornography, Fowler took photos posted to social media by area students and their parents and shared them with pedophiles from across the country, Covelli said.
Covelli said that Woodland School District has been “cooperative and collaborative” during the entirety of this investigation.
“This is a despicable crime — especially when committed by someone entrusted to be a positive influence on our youth. The actions of one individual do not reflect the thousands of hardworking, dedicated teachers and educators in our community,” Sheriff John D. Idleburg said.
“With that, this is a reminder that it is critically important for parents to monitor who their children are communicating with and to regularly remind them about the dangers of social media and the internet,” Idleburg said.
A forensic examination of the seized electronics is underway.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges against Fowler of disseminating child pornography and possession of child pornography.
Additional charges are possible pending the results of the electronic forensic examination.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Kenosha Police Department with their Electronic Detection Canine Iris.
Fowler appeared for a detention hearing on Friday afternoon after the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain him while he awaits trial.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Emily Shanely-Roberts said Fowler admitted to disseminating a video of child pornography on Snapchat so he could join a group chat with others.
Shanley-Roberts said Fowler is a PE teacher at an elementary school in Gurnee, a girls basketball coach at Grayslake Community High School and a track coach at Woodland Middle School. He also has two children.
Detectives saw at least two students of Fowler’s identified among the 1,000s of images and videos in the man’s Snapchat account.
Shanley-Roberts said Fowler has possessed and disseminated hundreds and thousands of images and videos.
“This isn’t a situation where the defendant is just possessing images of children that are unidentifiable… as often is the case. In this situation, he’s possessing images of children that he teaches, that are members of this community in Lake County,” Shanley-Roberts said during the detention hearing.
Attorney Elliot Pinsel argued for his client’s release and said Fowler has no criminal background and could live with his mother if released.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition to detain Fowler and remanded him to the custody of the Lake County Jail after agreeing with prosecutors that the man poses a danger and no conditions of release could mitigate the threat.
“Thank you to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Cyber Division for their fantastic investigation that led to the capture of this offender, who was charged with multiple counts of child pornography, and was detained without the ability to post cash bail,” Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
“This is what bail reform looks like – a community that does not allow dangerous offenders access to children because they have cash. The community deserves real conversations about our justice system that is not polluted with constant misinformation. Bail reform is protecting children,” Rinehart said.
The sheriff’s office said that parents should speak to their children to see if they have communicated with Fowler or believe they may be a victim of Fowler. Sheriff’s detectives can be reached at 847-377-4000.
Fowler is scheduled to appear in court again on May 23 for a status hearing.