St. Charles man charged with making child porn

A St. Charles man has been indicted on charges he made pornographic videos with two teenage girls.

Keith S. McElroy, 38, was indicted last week on 21 counts of child pornography, criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual assault, court records show. He was released from the Kane County jail Tuesday on $250,000 bond.

According to the charges, McElroy offered the girls $150 each to take part in pornographic movies and pictures between Nov. 20 and 27, 2007. The girls were both 16 at the time, authorities said.

Defense attorney D.J. Tegeler said McElroy came under investigation in March 2008 after the girls made allegations about his client to authorities. The allegations, however, were later recanted, he said.

"(McElroy) stands on his innocence," Tegeler said. "Having known of this investigation for a year and having received recantations, I expect him to be found not guilty at trial."

In court this week, however, prosecutors argued that only one of the girls recanted and said photos and videos corroborate their original statements.

"When do we ever have visual evidence that corroborates the actual outcry?" Assistant State's Attorney Justin Fitzsimmons said. "Almost never in a sex case do you have that."

McElroy appears to have no criminal history in Kane County, according to court records. Tegeler said he faces a minimum of 24 years behind bars without the possibility of probation if convicted.

Tegeler said a grand jury indicted McElroy after authorities executed a search warrant at his home on the 3500 block of Voltaire Lane and seized several personal computers.

As a condition of his bond, McElroy is prohibited from using the Internet at home or work, is assigned to electronic monitoring and restricted from having unsupervised contact with children.

McElroy is due back in court June 11.