Feb. 24--The discovery of child pornography in a piece of furniture after the rent on a storage locker went unpaid has led to a Portage Park man's arrest, police said Wednesday.
Dennis T. Long, 54, of the 5700 block of West Irving Park Road, who is charged with possession of child pornography, was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail Wednesday in Cook County Bond Court.
Long had rented a locker at a U-Haul storage facility at 4301 N. Cicero Ave. in January 2015, but after he failed to pay the rent, employees of the storage company prepared to auction off the items in his locker in November, said Assistant State's Attorney Karisa Flores.
When the items didn't sell early in January, employees started to empty out the locker. Items, including a stack of child pornography photographs, fell out of a desk as employees removed it from the unit, according to prosecutors.
Police were called, and investigators found that the photographs included pictures of children younger than 13 and between the ages of 13 and 18, prosecutors said.
When he spoke to investigators, Long admitted he had rented the storage unit, and he identified the contents of the storage unit as his, prosecutors said.
In court Wednesday, Long's attorney said Long has worked for 18 years as a union carpenter and lives alone.
