Police: Man had child porn on computer at mom's McHenry house

A 21-year-old Niles man is facing up to 15 years in prison after his arrest Wednesday on charges he possessed, and in one instance distributed, child pornography from a computer in his mother's McHenry home.

McHenry County Sheriff's police arrested Jamie J. Horzepa at his residence in the 8500 block of West Madison Drive, ending an investigation begun Aug. 14 when detectives discovered child pornographic material was being shared openly from a computer later linked to him, authorities said. On Sept. 29, sheriff's investigators and McHenry Police served a search warrant at his mother's residence and seized the computer.

According to an eight-count criminal complaint filed Thursday, Horzepa possessed on the computer seven video files depicting children in sexual situations and, in most cases, engaging in sex acts. He is accused of disseminating one of the videos over the World Wide Web.

Sheriff's Sgt. Michael Cisner said it appears Horzepa obtained the video files through Internet chat rooms and pornographic Web sites.

"These predators have chat rooms where they exchange information about how to obtain these child pornographic materials," Cisner said. "It's a big clique on the Internet."

Horzepa spent Wednesday night in the McHenry County jail, then Thursday morning appeared in court, where a judge assigned the public defender to represent him. He remained in custody Thursday, unable to post a $6,000 bond.

If found guilty of the count alleging he disseminated the material, he would face a maximum four to 15 years in prison. The remaining charges, alleging only possession, are punishable by a maximum two to five years in prison.