Lombard man facing child pornography charges
A Lombard man charged with possession of child pornography has been collecting it for 30 years, a DuPage County prosecutor said.
James J. Murphy, 77, of the 600 block of Madison Street, has been charged with 11 felony counts of possession of child pornography. He was arrested on Wednesday.
"It is disgusting and it has been 30 years of it," Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Lindt told Judge Brian F. Telander during a Thursday bail hearing for Murphy.
The charges are Class X felonies because they involve dissemination, video, and children under age 13, according to Lindt. If convicted, Murphy could be sentenced to as many as 66 years in prison.
Lindt said investigators from the DuPage County sheriff's office were investigating child pornography on a computer network that uses technology for users to share files when they found an Internet Protocol address connected to Murphy's home address. Murphy lives in the house with his wife and an adult daughter, Lindt said.
When they searched the house, investigators asked Murphy if he wanted to say anything, Lindt said. Murphy said he knew why they were there and showed them where the pornography was on a computer, Lindt said.
According to charging documents, Murphy was in possession of video files. They depicted a man sexually assaulting prepubescent girls; several have labels indicating the victims are 5 and 8 years old. One of the videos also depicts the man and a prepubescent boy assaulting a girl at the same time.
One of the videos was more than one hour long, Lindt said. "She (the victim) is basically violated in every way a child can be physically violated," Lindt said.
Lindt said two other videos police found appear to have been taken with a hidden camera in dressing rooms without the victims' knowledge.
Assistant Public Defender Ruth Walstra said Murphy is retired.
Telander set bail at $100,000. If Murphy posts bond, he is to have no unsupervised contact with minors, and must stay away from schools and parks, including Madison Meadow Park, which is near his home.