Man sentenced to 4 years for child porn charge

A Glen Ellyn man who insists he is not a "predator" was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for having a penchant for child pornography.

Robert D. Romanski, 27, also must register as a convicted sex offender upon his release from prison.

He faced four to 15 years behind bars for possessing and disseminating the sexually explicit material, which included the videotaped sexual assaults of young girls. One appeared to be a baby.

"By collecting images of children being raped, this defendant certainly created a demand on the market, which encourages others to film videos such as these," prosecutor Kenneth Tatarelis said. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know this is wrong and illegal."

Romanski was arrested in July 2007 in a joint investigation between the attorney general's high-tech crimes bureau and Carol Stream and Glen Ellyn police. In a statement to the judge, he shed some light Friday on the sad reality of how saturated cyberspace is with such images.

"I don't know why I started looking at these things," Romanski said. "They were just there. It was as easy as grabbing a football off the shelf. I'm not attracted to little girls. I'm not a villain. I just want it to be known that I'm not a predator. I'm not driving by schools and parks looking for kids. It was stupid and foolish and despicable."

His attorney, Jacqueline Lacy, a senior DuPage County public defender, said Romanski cooperated with police, showed true remorse and took responsibility for his conduct. She noted Romanski had a horrific childhood in which he was raised by alcoholic, physically abusive family members or shuffled around while in state care.

"It was more than tragic," Lacy said. "I'm not saying this as an excuse or to deprecate the seriousness of the offense, but I certainly think with a childhood like that, people don't evolve emotionally and grow as a human being."

A 1996 arrest as a juvenile for aggravated assault was the defendant's only prior violent crime. DuPage Circuit Judge Blanche Hill Fawell sentenced Romanski, who is eligible for parole after serving half the prison term.