Child porn warrant leads to Crystal Lake pot bust

McHenry County Sheriff's deputies searching this week for a man wanted in Colorado on child pornography allegations found not only him in his Crystal Lake home, but also more than 13 pounds of marijuana and 78 cannabis plants growing in a crawl space, authorities said.

Kenneth J. Froehler, 39, of the 7400 block of Hemlock Street, faces charges of unlawful possession of cannabis with the intent to deliver and two other felony drug charges stemming from the sheriff's unexpected find Wednesday morning, sheriff's police said.

Arrested and charged with him, sheriff's police said, is his girlfriend, Cindy M. Dyra, 39, of the same Crystal Lake address. Each faces a mandatory prison sentence of six to 30 years if found guilty of possession with intent to deliver.

The arrests occurred when members of the sheriff's Fugitive Apprehension Unit went to the couple's home to arrest Froehler on a charge he possessed child pornography in Colorado.

Those allegations, Sgt. James Popovits said, stem from the discovery of a portable computer hard drive belonging to Froehler in a Colorado hotel room. The drive wound up in the hands of local police there, who discovered child pornography on it, the charges allege.

When deputies entered the Froehler home, sheriff's police said, they found a large amount of cannabis in the main living area that was being processed for distribution.

"There were (drugs) in plain view, at which point we obtained a warrant to search the rest of the house," Popovits said.

All told, sheriff's police said, deputies seized about $27,500 in marijuana during the search.

Froehler remains in custody at the McHenry County jail on a $60,000 bond. Dyra is free after posting $5,000 cash bond. Both are scheduled to appear in court Nov. 20 before Judge Joseph Condon.

The arrests are not related to those announced last week in connection with a suspected multimillion dollar marijuana growing operation authorities say was being conducted out of several rented homes in McHenry County, sheriff's police said.