June 18--A Chicago Public Schools employee was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail Thursday after he was arrested at his South Side home and accused of possessing hundreds of movies depicting child pornography.
On Wednesday, investigators executed a search warrant at the Canaryville home of 39-year-old Eric Shank Van Eenige, of the 600 block of West 48th Street, and found the movies on a laptop computer, authorities said.
Investigators recovered a laptop computer belonging to Van Eenige containing multiple depictions by computer of children engaged in sex acts, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said in a news release.
The images included children under the age of 18, with the overwhelming majority of the images depicting children under the age of 13, Alvarez said.
Van Eenige, a teacher at Ariel Community Academy, was charged with dissemination of child pornography and possession of child pornography, both felonies. The school is a highly regarded CPS elementary school in the North Kenwood neighborhood.
Authorities nabbed him during an undercover operation that lasted about four months. They said he obtained the illegal images through peer-to-peer file-sharing software with other computer users.
He appeared for a bond hearing Thursday afternoon at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, where bond was set.
A CPS spokeswoman said school officials are cooperating with the Police Department.
"Chicago Public Schools' top priority is the safety and well-being of its students. We take any allegations of illegal activity very seriously, and we are taking the appropriate steps to ensure our students are protected," CPS spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said in a statement.
The investigation was conducted by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a group that includes the Cook County state's attorney's office, the Chicago Police Department and several suburban law enforcement agencies.
