Will County Gazette

The Lake County Sheriff's Office arrested a Zion man for allegedly possessing dozens of images and videos of child pornography after a search of a Joppa Avenue residence on July 2. Sheriff's Office detectives and Illinois Attorney General's Cybercrime Unit members conducted the search.

"We continue to increase our resources devoted to investigating and arresting those engaged in child abuse. Whether it be sexual abuse or physical abuse, we are going to do everything we can to keep our children safe from predators," Sheriff John Idleburg said, according to a Lake County Sheriff's office news release.

According to the Lake County Sheriff's office news release, an investigation began when Sheriff's detectives learned images and videos containing child pornography were being downloaded at a residence in the 2300 block of Joppa Avenue in Zion. They determined an individual also was saving the videos and images to a cloud storage account. After gathering information, they obtained a search warrant for the home, which was conducted on July 2.

Sheriff's detectives determined that Christopher J. Abernathy, 37, of the residence, allegedly was responsible for downloading and saving the child pornography, according to the news release. Digital forensic examiners with the Illinois Attorney General's Office analyzed the suspect's electronic devices. They discovered dozens of videos with children as young as infants being sexually assaulted.

The Lake County State's Attorney's Office approved three counts of possession of child pornography, which are class 2 felonies, according to the news release. Additional charges are possible. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.