A Lincolnshire day care worker who was found with images of child pornography on her personal computer admitted to Department of Family Services investigators that she had romantic feelings toward minors, Lake County prosecutors said.
Sequoyah Hubbard, 26, of North Chicago, has been ordered detained in Lake County jail until trial after being charged with three felony counts of possession of child pornography by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office.
According to a petition filed at the Lake County Circuit Clerk’s Office, Hubbard was working at a Lincolnshire day care and early education facility when detectives received a cyber tip in June of 2024 from the International Crimes Against Children agency that a user had uploaded an image of child pornography to a OneDrive account in 2024.
Prosecutors said Hubbard was released from the day-care facility when the accusations against her came to light, and authorities brought in the Department of Children and Family Services to assist in the investigation.
During the DCFS interview, Hubbard admitted to having romantic feelings toward minors, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said in court the investigation showed Hubbard accessed the “dark web” to procure between 200 and 400 images of child pornography, adding the images were mainly boys as young as toddlers to pre-teen in various stages of undress.
In addition, her computer used a device designed to hide her computer’s IP address in order to make it difficult to trace the images back to her.
In total, prosecutors said only three or four of the photos were of children completely naked, but most of the images recovered had the children in their underwear.
The court petition said Hubbard admitted and apologized for owning the images, but argued that she is an artist and the photos uploaded to her computer were part of her art. Prosecutors said Hubbard previously studied art at the College of Lake County.
Lake County Circuit Court Judge Michael Nerheim ordered her detained because she not only put herself into a position of access to children through her work at a day care, but also “rejects any moral wrongfulness” by defending the images on her computer as art.
Hubbard is due back in court on Sept. 25.