Crystal Lake man gets two more years in prison on child porn charge
A Crystal Lake man already in prison for 20 years in prison on federal child pornography charges got two more Wednesday after admitting he had images of underage girls in sexual situations on his computer.
Warren J. Harder, 65, of the 200 block of Berkshire Lane, pleaded guilty in a McHenry County courtroom to possession of child pornography under a deal allowing him to serve the two-year term while incarcerated in a federal prison on the other case.
The charge stemmed from allegations that surfaced in November 2007 when Harder brought his computer to a Crystal Lake shop for repairs.
"During the process of looking at the computer, images of children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual conduct was found," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney David Johnston said.
When questioned by police, Johnston said, Harder admitted he downloaded the images to his computer.
In May, a U.S. District Court judge in Tampa, Fla., sentenced Harder to 20 years in prison on a charge of attempted production of child pornography.
According to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Harder chatted online for more than a year with an undercover agent he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.
During the chats, ICE said, Harder repeatedly asked the girl to take sexually explicit photographs of intimate parts of her body and e-mail them to him. He also sent the agent a digital camera to take the pictures and e-mailed sexually explicit images of adult women to show her how to pose, officials said.
Harder also indicated he intended to travel to Florida to have sex with the girl, ICE said.
Federal authorities said a later search of his computer revealed hundreds of images of child pornography and chats with numerous underage individuals. He had used various social networking outlets to establish online profiles, contact underage girls and participate in sexually explicit chats.
Further investigation revealed that between 2007 and 2009 the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tip Line received more than a dozen complaints about someone using e-mail accounts traced to Harder having sexually explicit conversations online with underage girls.