Aug. 22--A Baptist minister from McHenry County has been charged with possessing child pornography, officials announced Friday.
The Rev. Timothy Williams was arrested at his home near Woodstock on Friday and charged with six counts of possession of child pornography, the McHenry County Sheriff's Office stated in a news release.
Williams, 50, was a minister at the Heritage Baptist Church outside Woodstock, but his name was taken off the church website a day after sheriff's police executed a search warrant at his home in July.
A "cyber tip" by phone or online to the National Center for Missing Exploited Children led to an eight-month investigation by sheriff's deputies and the Illinois attorney general's office.
As a result of the search warrant, electronic evidence was removed from Williams' home. Images containing child pornography, and online chat messages referencing child porn and other "deviant sexuality," were found on Williams' computer, the sheriff's department said.
Police will continue investigating, and asked that anyone with information about Williams contact the sheriff's police at 815-334-4750.
Williams was being held at McHenry County Jail on $100,000 bond.
No one at the church could be reached for comment Friday evening.
rmccoppin@tribpub.com
