Campton Hills woman faces child porn charges
A Campton Hills woman possessed child pornography and sent instant messages that she would allow people to have sex with children she claimed were her own, according to a Kane County prosecutor.
Rebecca Pappas, 32, of the 42W0-99 block of Hunters Hill Drive, has been charged with three Class X felony counts of reproduction of child pornography. She also faces 13 felony counts of possession of child pornography and three felony counts of posting graphic images.
If convicted of the Class X counts, she faces a prison sentence of 6 to 30 years on each count, to be served consecutively.
Records show the charges were filed on Oct. 16. The reproduction charges allege she shared video images of child pornography, and the possession charges allege she possessed child pornography, according to Kane County court records.
The posting graphic images charges allege that she posted images of two children, both under age 18, without their consent on an adult obscenity or child pornography site "on the internet site of Kik," according to court records.
A first-appearance hearing for Pappas was held Wednesday at the Kane County Judicial Center.
Assistant state's attorney Bob Dore told Kane County Judge Michael Noland that Pappas used photographs of two children she knew in conversations on Kik.
Pappas told the recipients they were her children, Dore said. In one conversation, she advised someone that if they didn't have children, they could get some from playgrounds, according to Dore.
"That is fantasy. That is role play," Pappas' attorney, Michael Cheronis, said of the messages. He argued for Pappas to be released pretrial.
Cheronis said only 66 of the roughly 2,500 messages prosecutors obtained from Pappas' cellphone featured the photos. He also said the children were unharmed.
He said Pappas became depressed after she broke up with a long-term boyfriend, was laid off from her job in April and had to move back into her parents' home.
After police contacted her earlier this month, she entered a psychiatric hospital because she was suicidal, he said. She was discharged Monday after a two-week stay and turned herself in.
Cheronis said she has severe depression and generalized anxiety disorder and has arranged to enter a 30-day residential program.
He also said she cannot obtain her prescribed psychiatric medications yet while in the Kane County jail.
Noland declined to rule on whether to detain Pappas, saying trial judge John Barsanti should determine that.
The hearing will resume Thursday afternoon before Barsanti.