A man who got probation after he was caught with thousands of files of child sexual abuse material while living in a home daycare in Grayslake is wanted on new charges alleging he was within a school zone multiple times.
Jose A. Real, 54, of Round Lake Park, was charged this week with three counts of child sex offender loitering, a Class 4 felony.
An arrest warrant was obtained Tuesday by the Grayslake Police Department and signed by a Lake County judge.
The warrant says that Real came within 500 feet of Meadowview School, 291 Lexington Lane in Grayslake, on multiple occasions between July and September while children were present at the school.
The warrant said Real knowingly loitered by entering into a building, which is not his residence, on July 6, September 11 and September 14.
Real is a registered child sex offender and is not allowed to be in the school zone.
Grayslake Police Chief Jeff Myhra said Real was at his former residence on those occasions, which is within 500 feet of Meadowview School. It is located in the 1200 block of Chesterfield Lane, which is directly behind the school.
A neighbor in the Grayslake subdivision told Lake and McHenry County Scanner in late June that Real had been back to his former home within the school zone in violation of his sex offender registry requirements.
“The cops entertain it, saying he is just visiting. Our neighborhood is furious but what can we really do?” the neighbor said.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Christopher Covelli previously said sheriff’s detectives began an investigation in mid-2024 after learning videos containing child pornography were being downloaded and shared from a residence at Real’s home on Chesterfield Lane.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell said Facebook and Snapchat reported the incidents, which spurred the investigation.
Detectives applied for and obtained a search warrant for the home and conducted the search at the residence on July 19, 2024.
Just prior to detectives entering the home, Real appeared to hide his cell phone in a potted plant, Covelli said, but detectives were able to quickly find the hidden phone, which they seized.
Detectives conducted a forensic examination of the phone, which required bypassing the phone’s passcode.
Covelli said over 1,000 videos and images of child pornography, some of which involved children as young as infants, were located on the phone.
“Based on the evidence, they determined Real was responsible for downloading and sharing the child pornography videos,” Covelli said.
McConnell said somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 videos and photos of child pornography were identified in the man’s possession at the time of his arrest.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Real for three counts of possession of child pornography, Class 2 felonies, and he was arrested by sheriff’s deputies on July 31, 2024, without incident. He was later charged with seven additional counts of the felony offense.
Detectives learned during the investigation that Real’s family member was running a daycare out of the same home he was living in, Covelli said.
The recovered material was not believed to be of the children who were being supervised at the home.
McConnell said Real was suspected of having also distributed explicit material through Telegram and WhatsApp but he was never charged with distribution.
McConnell said that Real was interviewed following his arrest and admitted to watching the child pornography, saying that “everyone does it.”
McConnell called it a “horrific offense” and said Real is “clearly a threat to children” in arguing for his detention.
Real was later released from the Lake County Jail by a judge and placed on pre-trial conditions in November 2024.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) was alerted to the situation and the daycare was not allowed to operate while the investigation was underway. The daycare’s current status is unknown.
Court records show Real entered into a negotiated plea deal with the state’s attorney’s office in late June.
He pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography, a Class 2 felony, in exchange for a 95-day jail sentence and 30 months of probation.
The jail sentence was considered served upon the plea because of credit for time he had already served.
Real was also ordered not to consume alcohol or drugs, be subject to random testing, undergo a sex offender evaluation and recommended treatment, not use the internet, have no contact with children and register as a sex offender.
Real remains wanted on the new charges of violating his sex offender requirements, court records show.