Decorated Army veteran pleads guilty to child porn charges

A Downers Grove man and decorated Army veteran was sentenced Wednesday to 180 days in DuPage County jail and 30 months of sex offender probation.

Judge John Kinsella handed down the sentence after Anthony Damaska, 29, of the 600 block of Sherman Street, pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of child pornography.

Kinsella said he went along with the probationary sentence, in part, because of Damaska's honorable discharge from the Army.

"I suggest you use whatever VA services are available to you to delve into the issues you may be dealing with," Kinsella said. "Deriving pleasure from the denigration of a child is really sick stuff."

Assistant State's Attorney David Friedland said Naperville police officers, while working on an investigation in August 2015, located an IP address originating from the Downers Grove area containing a high volume of possible child pornography downloads.

A search warrant of Damaska's home produced thousands of images containing child pornography.

Friedland said Damaska admitted to police that he "found pleasure knowing he wasn't supposed to view these images" of 5- and 6-year-old children.

The search of Damaska's home also turned up "numerous firearms and incendiary devices," Friedland said.

At the time of Damaska's arrest he had a valid FOID card, but he no longer is allowed to own such weapons as a felon. A June 23 hearing was set to determine whether they can be released to a family member.