Elmhurst man wishes he had ‘better explanation’ for child porn

Paul Murphy is either a child pornography collector, or he has really bad luck.

The Elmhurst man argued it’s the latter as he was sentenced Tuesday for possessing nearly 1,500 images of child porn, some of which he says he found at a Laundromat.

“I wish I had a better explanation,” Murphy told a DuPage County judge. “I didn’t download that stuff. I didn’t buy it. It wasn’t mine.”

A former commercial airline pilot, Murphy, 56, was arrested in February after police identified a computer downloading child pornography at a carwash and laundry business in Elmhurst.

Murphy was residing in a small room in the back of the facility, where police found two CDs and two thumb drives containing nearly 1,500 videos and photos of child pornography, prosecutors said.

At trial, Murphy claimed he found the drives after they were left behind by someone doing laundry. He said someone else left the CDs in his room.

Assistant State’s Attorney William Wu said police also found a pair of children’s panties, which Murphy admitted to buying for apparent sexual gratification.

“It looks awful,” Murphy conceded in court Tuesday. “These things happen to people.”

Judge Robert Kleeman convicted Murphy of 15 counts of aggravated child pornography possession after a bench trial in December.

He said he had no doubts about the defendant’s guilt in sentencing him Tuesday to three years of probation and time served.

“The defendant’s explanations just defy logic,” Kleeman said.

Kleeman said he sentenced Murphy to probation with “some reservation” but believed the defendant, who had no prior criminal history, was more likely to be rehabilitated outside of prison.

By law, Murphy also must register as a sex offender for life. He vowed to appeal his conviction.