A former longtime employee of Algonquin-based School District 300 has been sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to solicit child pornography, court records show.
Donald Peters, 36, of Cary, pleaded guilty to two charges of soliciting child pornography during a hearing in front of McHenry County Judge Mark Gerhardt on June 6, court records said.
Peters was sentenced to seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on one charge, according to court records, and received four years of probation on the second charge.
The sentences are to be carried out consecutively, court records said.
Peters was first charged in July of 2023 with three counts of child pornography, two counts of intimidation, two counts of cyberstalking, two counts of electronic harassment and disorderly conduct.
He was taken into custody by the Algonquin Police Department following an investigation by the Cary Police Department, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators conducted a child exploitation search warrant at Peters’ residence on Linden Court in Cary.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Electronic Detection Canine Tera assisted and located hidden electronic devices in clothing and stuffed in bags, officials said.
The charges allege Peters committed the offenses of intimidation and cyberstalking, along with electronic harassment.
The police department said Peters, a longtime employee of Community Unit School District 300, may have solicited students for their social media accounts.
Police did not provide further information on the charges against Peters or say if the child pornography found was of any students.
Peters was released from custody in July after posting 10% of a $250,000 bond.
Court records show police obtained an arrest warrant again in September 2023 after prosecutors approved new charges of child pornography, grooming and two counts of child luring.
A criminal complaint said Peters solicited, used, persuaded, induced, enticed and coerced a juvenile victim under the age of 13 to appear in a photo or video showing the child unclothed.
The complaint said Peters groomed the child to distribute the photographs to him.
District 300 Chief of Communications Anthony McGinn told Lake and McHenry County Scanner at the time of Peters’ first arrest that the man began working for the district on September 4, 2007.
He was employed as a night custodian at Wright Elementary School in Hampshire from his hire date through June 2016, when he became a custodian night supervisor until August 2016.
Peters was promoted to head custodian at Jacobs High School in Algonquin, where he worked from August 2016 until September 2018, McGinn said.
He switched roles in September 2018 and became the attendance secretary at Westfield Community School in Algonquin, where he worked until July, when he was placed on administrative leave, McGinn said.