DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, Lombard Chief of Police Roy Newton and DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick announced Saturday, Feb. 6, that bond had been set for a Bellwood police commander accused of possessing child pornography.
John Trevarthen, 45, of Lombard, appeared in bond court where Judge Anthony Coco set bond at $150,000 with 10 percent to apply. Trevarthen is charged with three counts of possession of child pornography, a Class 2 felony.
In mid-January, a Lombard police detective, who is a member of the Illinois Attorney General Crimes Against Children Taskforce, received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding suspected child pornography videos and photographs that were allegedly uploaded on a smart phone file-sharing application with an email address that registered to a home in Lombard.
Following the tip, the Lombard Police Department immediately began an investigation into the matter. On Feb. 5, a traffic stop was executed on the defendant at which time his personal iPhone was seized.
Additionally, a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s home resulting in the seizure of his iPad. Both devices were sent to the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit for analysis.
Following an investigation into the matter, it is alleged that Trevarthen used a personal IP address as well as an IP address owned by the Village of Bellwood to view child pornography through the file-sharing application “Kik.”
“The allegations against Mr. Trevarthen are disturbing,” Berlin said. “I would like to thank the Lombard Police Department as well as the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office for their outstanding work on this case.”
“I would like to thank members of my investigations team as well as the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office for their cooperative efforts that led to the charges filed against this defendant,” Newton said.
Trevarthen’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 8 for arraignment in front of Judge Jeffrey MacKay.
