March 29--A court hearing was canceled Monday for a Chicago Blackhawks prospect accused of sharing video of a woman engaged in a sex act.
Garret Ross, 23, had been scheduled to appear Monday in DeKalb County court, where he is charged with non-consensual dissemination of a sexual image. Ross had been playing for the Rockford Ice Hogs, a team affiliated with the Blackhawks, until his suspension last week.
His attorney, John Palmer, said Monday that there had not been any developments in the court case that merited the scheduled status update, so it was canceled. Ross is due back on April 22, when he is expected to be arraigned.
Authorities say Ross disseminated video of a Sycamore woman who had been dating one of Ross' teammates. The woman sent the teammate the images while they were dating, but she allegedly ended the relationship when she discovered the teammate already had another girlfriend.
Ross, police said, was involved in a relationship that ended when his girlfriend learned Ross was trying to meet other women through a dating website. Both Ross and the teammate blamed the Sycamore woman for sabotaging their relationships by "spreading lies" about them, according to police.
The non-consensual dissemination charge, known informally as "revenge porn," was made a class 4 felony in Illinois last year and is punishable by a maximum sentence of one to three years in prison.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
