Oct. 09--A staff member at an Evanston school is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail after being charged with possession of child pornography.
Timothy King, 44, of the 1000 block of Arbor Court in Wheaton, appeared in DuPage County bond court Friday morning. He faces seven counts of felony possession of child pornography, prosecutors said in a news release.
King is the information technology coordinator at Evanston's Roycemore School, which is a private pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade college prep school. The school's enrollment is 235 students, according to its website.
During Wheaton police's ongoing Internet child pornography investigation efforts, police suspected King's computer had child pornography on it. On Thursday, police executed a search warrant at King's home, which revealed that King's computer and external hard drive contained about 6,000 images and videos depicting child pornography, according to the press release.
"Each of these alleged 6,000 images represents yet another young, innocent victim of child pornography," State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. "This type of alleged deviant behavior will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
King was charged and taken into custody Thursday afternoon.
King was employed by Roycemore School in 2014 after routine background checks, said Kevin Smith, Roycemore's headmaster. Because of the pending investigation, a final decision has not yet been made about King's termination, though Smith said King will not be working on campus for the foreseeable future.
"He was a productive employee on campus, and so we were surprised by his arrest," Smith said.
The school is conducting an internal investigation on campus to be sure any alleged misconduct did not take place on Roycemore's premises, he said.
"This is a great place for kids, and a warm and compassionate community," Smith said. "We care first about the safety of our kids. Our understanding is that nothing inappropriate happened on campus, but we need to ensure that, because our first priority is the children."
As IT coordinator, King's responsibilities included managing technology infrastructure, advancing new technology options like laptops for students, and integrating a new school database, Smith said.
King is next due in court Nov. 2. Should he post bond, he will be prohibited from contacting children younger than 18 years old, and barred from Internet and computer access.
meltagouri@tribune.com
