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Authorities say an Algonquin man admitted to possessing nearly 10,000 images of child sexual abuse and to having watched such materials since the 1990s.
Norman A. Franke, 77, is charged with 12 counts of Class X felony possession and disseminating, or offering to disseminate, moving depictions of child sex abuse material, according to a criminal complaint in McHenry County court; he’s also charged with and three Class 2 counts of possession of child sex abuse material.
He appeared in court Thursday, where he was denied pretrial release from the McHenry County jail.
Assistant State’s Attorney Henry Sugden argued for Franke’s detention, noting he’s a computer programmer who lives alone, works from home and is knowledgeable about technology. Sugden said nothing other than keeping jail would keep Franke from accessing and downloading such images. His actions help feed a market in which children are being sexually abused, and no conditions will stop him, Sugden argued.
When police arrived at Franke’s home, Sugden said, images of child sex abuse were being downloaded on a device on the kitchen table. Sugden said Franke admitted to police he’s watched such videos for decades and told them how he finds them online.
Assistant Public Defender Kim Messer argued for Franke’s release and said there are monitoring systems available to ensure he doesn’t download any such images. She took issue with the state’s assumption, that just because someone is charged with possessing child sex abuse images, they will continue to engage in the offense when released from jail.
Franke’s alleged offenses were discovered “after child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was transmitted to an [Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force] investigator with the Woodstock Police Department,” police said in a news release Wednesday.
The charges against Franke are the culmination of an investigation involving the Woodstock and Algonquin police departments, with assistance from the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office’s ESD K9 unit, K9 Grip and the Illinois Attorney General’s task force.
Authorities said a search warrant was executed last week at Franke’s home and he was taken into custody. He made a brief first court appearance Wednesday, where prosecutors were expected to argue for his detention, but Messer asked for additional time to prepare.
In denying Franke’s pretrial release, Judge Cynthia Lamb said he knew the people in the videos were children. She also noted that he stated to detectives that he “kept only the [materials] where children appear to be willing participants.” The statement shows he minimizes the sexual abuse of the children being depicted in the videos, Lamb added.