A Crystal Lake man, who is a married father and employee at AT&T, was arrested on charges alleging he directed online users to violently sexually abuse children and record the acts.
Brent A. Edmonson, 55, of Crystal Lake, was charged with 10 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, a Class 2 felony.
The Crystal Lake Police Department began an investigation after receiving four cyber tips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) concerning the suspected possession and downloading of child sexual abuse material.
Detectives were able to trace an IP address associated with the reported activity to Edmonson’s residence in Crystal Lake, prosecutors said.
Investigators further identified Edmonson, the owner of the residence, as the suspect associated with the WhatsApp account that possessed the files containing child sexual abuse material, prosecutors said.
Detectives conducted surveillance of the residence and obtained a search warrant for the home and electronic devices located inside.
Officers carried out the search warrant where they located Edmonson inside the residence and seized multiple electronic devices for further examination.
Prosecutors said Edmonson was actively using a computer that contained five files of suspected child sexual abuse material as officers arrived.
The files recovered from the devices showed children with other children, adults, animals, toys and other objects in sexually explicit acts, court documents said.
Court documents said Edmonson was making specific requests to the distributors of the material, including directing the people who were abusing the children by telling them what to do to the children and what he would pay to see certain acts.
“This case is another example of how advancements in technology allow law enforcement to identify child sexual abuse material as it moves across the internet and trace it back to the individuals who possess it,” McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese said.
“Those who seek out this material may believe they are anonymous—they are not. We commend Det. Tietz whose persistent and meticulous work traced these CyberTips from an IP address to a home, to a suspect, and ultimately to the evidence that led to these charges,” Freese said.
McHenry County Judge Cynthia Lamb granted a petition to detain Edmonson pending trial during an Initial Appearance Court hearing on Wednesday.
The judge said that Edmonson is married, has a juvenile child and nobody knew what he was doing as he kept the activity hidden from everyone.
She also noted that Edmonson has worked at AT&T for years and is “clearly knowledgeable in telecommunications and about how to keep this type of activity hidden.”
Edmondson has no prior criminal history but Lamb said there were no conditions of release to mitigate the threat he poses based on his actions of directing the type of abuse that he wanted to be carried out on the children, in addition to also possessing the explicit material.
Edmondson is scheduled to appear in court again on August 26 for a status of preliminary hearing.