A former McHenry High School teacher and sports coach has been arrested and charged after officials say he possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material from his phone.
Bradley Robertson, 41, of Palatine, was indicted by a grand jury on eight counts of reproduction of child pornography with a victim under 13, a Class X felony, and possession of child pornography, a Class 2 felony.
Robertson, a teacher’s aide at Palatine High School, is accused of possessing multiple files depicting child sexual abuse images on his cell phone, prosecutors said.
He was previously a special education teacher at McHenry Community High School District 156 from 2020 to 2024, according to a District 156 spokesperson.
Robertson was also previously a head girls lacrosse coach from 2020 to 2023, an assistant boys basketball coach from 2022 to 2024 and an assistant football coach from 2021 to 2022 for District 156.
An investigation conducted by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit (ICAC) revealed that Robertson used an account on Kik, an instant messaging mobile app, to upload and share at least three files depicting sexual abuse material depicting children under the age of 13, prosecutors said.
He also allegedly discussed sharing child sexual abuse images with other users on the app.
Court documents say that state’s attorney’s office investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children early this year about child sexual abuse material involving a Kik account.
Investigators executed multiple search warrants to obtain the IP address, email address, phone number and home address of the suspected account, which was linked back to Robertson.
The ICAC unit, in coordination with members from the Palatine Police Department and the Illinois State Police SWAT team, executed a search warrant at Robertson’s home on June 17.
Robertson was not on the premises but allowed law enforcement to enter, prosecutors said.
Investigators seized three laptops from the home, according to court records.
Robertson voluntarily arrived at the Palatine Police Department the same day and was taken into custody.
A search warrant executed on the cell phone in Robertson’s possession found at least three files containing child sexual abuse material depicting children under 13, prosecutors said.
Robertson was ordered detained at his first court appearance and remains held in the Cook County Jail.
He is scheduled to appear in court again on August 28.