Lake Bluff man gets probation, jail for sex and child porn

A Lake Bluff man was placed on probation for 30 months and was ordered to spend the first six months in jail on Wednesday after he admitted a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy and having a collection of child pornography.

Ian O’Donohue, 39, pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse and possession of child pornography during a hearing before Lake County Circuit Judge John Phillips.

Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Stanton said investigators from the state attorney general’s office tracked child pornography downloaded to computers at O’Donohue’s residence early this year.

On Jan. 8, officers served a search warrant on O’Donohue’s residence on the 2900 block of Waukegan Road and seized his computer.

A search of the computer turned up several images of child pornography, Stanton said, that O’Donohue told investigators he had been downloading since he was 25 years old.

The investigators also found a document indicating O’Donohue was having a relationship with a 16-year-old boy from Palatine.

Police interviewed the boy and were told he and O’Donohue had met through the Craigslist website, and had been meeting for sex in Palatine and at O’Donohue’s residence since April 2010.

The boy told police O’Donohue had bought him an iPhone, an iPod and several gift cards, Stanton said.

Phillips told O’Donohue he will be released from jail only for work and to attend sex offender counseling, which Stanton said he began shortly after his arrest.

O’Donohue was also ordered to pay $4,094 in court costs, make a $500 contribution to the Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Phillips further banned O’Donohue from any personal use of the Internet and from having any contact with people under the age of 18.

Stanton said O’Donohue could have been sentenced to up to seven years in prison for aggravated criminal sexual abuse and up to five years for possession of child pornography.