A janitor at Deerfield High School has been arrested with prosecutors calling him an online “dealer” of child sexual abuse material involving horrific images and videos, including of toddlers.
Ricardo O. Russell, 26, of Waukegan, was charged with 13 counts of dissemination of child pornography, a Class X felony, and 12 counts of obscene depiction of a purported child, a Class 2 felony.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Lillian Lewis said the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office received a cyber tip regarding a Kik account that had been used to upload several child pornography files.
An investigation associated with the uploads determined the potential source to be Russell, who lives in Waukegan.
The matter was transferred to the Waukegan Police Department for further investigation.
A detective made contact with Russell in June at his residence and asked if he knew about the material, which Russell responded that he “might,” Lewis said.
Russell admitted to having been on Kik on his devices and that someone had sent messages to a group chat.
Lewis said Russell produced three cell phones to the detective and told the detective does “not usually” go searching for child pornography.
The man also admitted to using Telegram and said it was “possible” child pornography videos could have been transferred between the phones, Lewis said.
Russell provided consent to search two of his phones but refused consent for a third phone.
A forensic analysis was conducted on all of the phones and investigators were able to recover an extensive amount of child pornography images, videos and artificial intelligence created child pornography obscenity material, Lewis said.
The material had been accessed or disseminated through lots of platforms “in his child pornography enterprise,” Lewis said.
He allegedly participated in multiple group chats at once and would receive hundreds of images, videos and conversations.
Lewis said Russell deals in child pornography the way a local drug dealer “slings dime-bags on a street corner.”
Users contact Russell and he determines what they are looking for and he provides it, Lewis said.
The group chat messages involved videos involving the sexual assault of children, including toddlers, as well as other violence based videos, including one of a woman being sexually assaulted by men.
Russell also created his own group chat where he disseminated numerous videos to other users, Lewis said.
Russell also allegedly sent a video to another user showing a “very small girl” being sexually assaulted by a man while the child held a sign saying, “God Loves Pedos.”
Investigators additionally recovered numerous images of children under the age of 13 engaged in various lewd poses that were determined to have been created by artificial intelligence.
Lewis said Russell from within Deerfield High School, including of the gymnasium, a message where another user sent an image of a male high schooler’s ID badge, an image of mopping equipment labeled “Girl’s Locker” and an image Russell took of gummy bears with a message saying he had found them in the girls’ locker room.
An attorney for Russell said his client worked as a janitor at Deerfield High School but no longer works there following his arrest.
District 113 officials said Russell, a third-shift custodian, worked at the school from December 12, 2023, until he was placed on administrative leave on June 13, 2024, for performance issues and excessive tardiness. He was fired on July 16, 2024.
The offenses Russell committed are alleged to have taken place during the time he worked at the school.
The attorney said the images from within the school were of a normal nature and were sent to Russell’s boss showing he completed his assigned tasks.
Lewis said other messages indicated Russell had been frequenting Plato’s Closet in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.
The store’s core customers are female and the store sells used clothing for teens and young adults, Lewis said.
“The materials that the defendant possessed are inherently damaging and inherently dangerous. Their very existence causes harm to children, not to mention the entire system of production and distribution that the defendant participates in by acquiring and maintaining these images,” Lewis said.
“He is a fixture of the child porn landscape, ready and willing to shuffle through his ‘collection’ and provide what’s needed,” Lewis added.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Russell pending trial, arguing he poses a danger to the community, and Lake County Judge Christopher Lombardo granted the petition following a detention hearing.
Russell remains held in the Lake County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court again on Tuesday for an arraignment hearing.