Wheaton man charged with child porn

The IT director of a private college prep school in Evanston has been jailed in DuPage County, charged with having more than 6,000 images of child pornography on his computer.

Bail was set at $300,000 Friday morning for Timothy King, 44, of the 1000 block of Arbor Court in Wheaton. King faces seven counts of felony possession of child pornography.

Through the course of their ongoing investigations into Internet child pornography, Wheaton police were able to identify a computer suspected of possessing such materials.

Prosecutors said officers searched King's home Thursday and found a computer and an external hard drive that contained roughly 6,000 images and videos depicting child pornography.

"Each of these alleged 6,000 images represents yet another young, innocent victim of child pornography," DuPage State's Attorney Bob Berlin said in a statement. "With today's charges we send the message that we will continue to aggressively go after those who exploit the most vulnerable members of our society, our children, just to satisfy their own sickening, sexual desires."

Kevin Smith, headmaster at the Roycemore School, at 1200 Davis St. in Evanston, said the campus was shocked by King's arrest. The school's enrollment of 235 students includes children as young as 3 through high school.

"(King) has been an employee of the school since 2014. He passed our background check process and has been a very productive employee so we were very surprised by his arrest," Smith said after King's bail hearing. "He is currently not working and his future employment is in jeopardy."

Smith said the school has cooperated with investigators and brought in private experts to ensure none of the activity took place at the school.

"We have found no evidence that anything happened on campus," Smith said. "Roycemore is a safe and compassionate independent school and we put the safety and security of our students above all else."

King's next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 2, in front of Judge John Kinsella.

Additional conditions for King, should he be able to post bond, include no contact with children younger than 18 and no computer or Internet access.