Antioch Township sex offender faces new child porn charges
Additional charges have been levied against a registered child sexual predator from Antioch Township who was arrested earlier this year for sharing nude photos with undercover detectives posing as 12-year-old girls.
Steven S. Tipman, 31, of the 39400 block of North Oak Avenue, was indicted by a Lake County grand jury this week on six counts of child pornography possession. Tipman was charged in March with failing to register a social media account as a sex offender, unlawful contact with a child by a child sexual offender and grooming.
Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Christopher Covelli said Thursday that the six new charges came after investigators conducted an analysis of Tipman's social media accounts, on which detectives found dozens of child pornography videos and images. Covelli said the images and videos included children ranging from infants to 13-year-olds.
Tipman remains in the Lake County jail on $800,000 bond, meaning he would need to provide $80,000 to be released while his trial is pending.
Tipman was apprehended in March after Lake County sheriff's officers were told Tipman was communicating with who he believed to be children but were actually undercover state police detectives from New York and Virginia. During each of their online communications, Tipman sent nude photos of himself to the investigators, Covelli said.
Lake County sheriff's officers executed a search warrant of Tipman's home and with the assistance of police dog Browser, who specializes in sniffing out computer electronics, were able to seize several computers and other electronics.
Based on the evidence gathered in March, detectives believe Tipman has communicated with dozens of children and exchanged nude photos with them. Tipman primarily used Snapchat, Meet24 and OKCupid to meet and begin conversations with the children, Covelli said.
According to records, Tipman was charged in 2010 with eight counts of child pornography in the McHenry County court system. In 2011, Tipman agreed to a guilty plea deal and served jail time and more than 30 months of probation, court records said.
Tipman is scheduled to be in court Friday for an arraignment hearing on the new charges.