State police trooper arrested on child porn charges

A Deerfield man who served as an Illinois State Police trooper and refereed youth hockey faces federal child pornography charges, authorities said.

Colin Gruenke, 38, is charged with possession and distribution of child pornography. He is on unpaid administrative leave according to an ISP spokesperson who said the department is conducting an internal investigation and cooperating with federal partners.

According to the complaint, Gruenke used several mobile messaging app accounts to share images depicting child pornography.

Federal officials on Wednesday executed a search warrant of Gruenke when he was at the state police office in Des Plaines, according to authorities.

At the time, they recovered his iPhone which they say had images depicting nude children. Agents subsequently recovered a flash drive from his home with about 200 video files depicting child pornography, according to the complaint.

Gruenke’s arrest stems from a report last fall to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from a mobile messaging app. It said an individual whose email address was associated with Gruenke uploaded and distributed multiple images of child pornography between Sept. 9 and 11, 2024. The investigation revealed the IP address was linked to Gruenke’s residence, according to the complaint.

Around May 7, Homeland Security officers opened an investigation to determine Gruenke’s involvement in the possession and distribution of child pornography via the app. According to the complaint, Gruenke worked as a state trooper as of that date.

According to the complaint, investigators obtained photographic evidence that Gruenke served as a referee for the 2018 Illinois State High School Hockey Championship.