Ice cream company owner pleads guilty to child pornography charges, faces prison
The owner of a well-known Dixon ice cream company will head to prison later this year after pleading guilty to child pornography.
Martin Hey Sr., owner of Hey Brothers Ice Cream, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of possessing child pornography, in exchange for DuPage County prosecutors dropping 32 remaining counts of child pornography and unauthorized video recording.
Hey is not eligible for probation and faces six to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced. He must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Prosecutors said Hey was caught secretly recording women and young girls whom he knew and some he didn't. Authorities said he would cut and paste portions of their photos on sexually violent child pornography images online and create his own "storyboards," complete with captions.
Hey, 67, initially was charged Sept. 15, 2018, with the unauthorized video recording of a young woman and a teenager he knew while he was at a house in Naperville. Prosecutors said the woman was helping the teen get ready for a dance when they noticed a flashing green light from a recording device.
When the woman called police, prosecutors alleged Hey fled to Dixon, where Naperville police ultimately found him and seized his computer and cellphone.
Additional child pornography charges were added in November 2018 after Hey's devices were found to contain "numerous" images of child pornography, several videos of minors and nude photos Hey took of himself at area hotels, prosecutors said.
They said Hey also was cutting and pasting the images of himself into images of child porn and creating intricate storyboards online.
Prosecutors said the investigation also showed Hey frequently operated a hidden camera on his belt, which he would use to secretly photograph teenage employees and customers. Those images also were found to be cut and pasted into child pornography scenes online.
Hey remains free on bail and will have his sentencing date set Aug. 1.