4 years for DuPage child porn collector

A Glendale Heights man who kept a large collection of child pornography in his bedroom has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Michael Jachim, 40, pleaded guilty last month to three counts of aggravated child pornography after he was accused of collecting thousands of images of young children being molested and raped. Police found piles of DVDs, CDs and videotapes when they searched Jachim’s bedroom in March.

On Tuesday, DuPage County Judge John Kinsella imposed the 4-year prison sentence after saying his verdict was influenced, in part, by the nature of Jachim’s “massive” collection.

“The defendant,” Kinsella said, “compiled some of the most disgusting and vile material that it has been my obligation to see.”

Zeus Flores, a computer evidence recovery technician with the Illinois Attorney General’s High Tech Crimes Bureau, testified that about 44,000 images of child pornography and child erotica were found on March 15 when police raided Jachim’s Gladstone Drive apartment.

Flores said about 10,000 graphic images depicted children who were an average age of 5. Several images and videos showed children bound by the hands and feet and wearing hoods or masks.

Prosecutor Helen Kapas said some of the videos included audio of the victims “screaming for their mommy as they were being sexually abused.”

Assistant Illinois Attorney General David Haslett said the images and videos are “the best evidence of what was going on in his (Jachim’s) mind.”

“The defendant is a pedophile,” Haslett told the judge. “He has an interest in young children. He is a danger to the community.”

Jachim said in a written statement read in court by his lawyer that he’s “not the monster the prosecution tried to portray me as.”

Defense attorney Stephen Brundage said there’s no evidence Jachim ever behaved inappropriately toward children or sexually abused them.

“He’s a collector. He’s a collector of that garbage,” said Brundage, who tried to convince the judge to give Jachim probation.

While the material Jachim had is “sickening” and “disturbing” to look at, Brundage said, “There is a difference between owning it and acting it out.”

But Haslett said he believes Jachim was caught by police before he could act out. “What makes him tick is violence against the youngest in our community,” he said.

Jachim was ordered by the judge to get psychological help while serving his prison sentence. He also must register for life as a sex offender.