Antioch man denies child porn, molesting charges

An Antioch man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he collected child pornography on his computer and molested a 5-year-old girl.

Nicholas Jones, 29, has been in the Lake County jail on $1 million bond since his Dec. 22 arrest.

Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Stanton said Round Lake Beach police tracked child pornography downloaded from the Internet to a computer at Jones’ residence in the 1200 block of Main Street in Antioch.

Armed with a search warrant, police went to Jones’ apartment on the afternoon of Dec. 22 and confiscated his computer.

Four images of child pornography were found, Stanton said, and Jones told police he had downloaded thousands of such images since 2004.

Stanton said Jones also told police he had been molesting a 5-year-old Antioch Township girl over several months leading up to his arrest for the pornography.

Round Lake Beach police informed Lake County sheriff’s detectives, who located the girl and took a statement from her, Stanton said.

Jones was subsequently charged with predatory sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of a child in addition to the aggravated possession of child pornography charge against him.

Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak scheduled a trial of the case for March 16 and ordered Jones to appear in court Feb. 22.