COOK COUNTY, IL – A 32-year-old Arlington Heights man has been charged after a Cook County Sheriff’s Police investigation found he uploaded child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and shared it with others, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
On Dec. 5, the Sheriff’s Police Internet Crimes Against Children and Cyber Trafficking units began an investigation of multiple cybertips regarding uploaded CSAM files that traced to the same cell phone number and email address.
Sheriff’s Police investigators confirmed that the uploaded files contained sexually explicit images of children and then obtained search warrants for the phone service and internet service providers. They learned that IP addresses were used to upload the files traced to two Arlington Heights locations, a home in the 400 block of North Windsor Drive and a Jewel grocery store in the 1800 block of South Arlington Heights Road.
Investigators learned that Ian Stehmeier lived at the North Windsor Drive address and met him there on June 10. He agreed to speak to investigators after they issued him his Miranda warning, and learned that Stehmeier’s phone number, email, and internet service provider matched the ones traced to the uploaded CSAM. He also told them he worked at the Jewel in the 1800 block of Arlington Heights Road. As a result, investigators took possession of his cell phone.
On June 16, Sheriff’s Police executed a search warrant on the phone and found more than 150 files of explicit images and videos of children.
Police took Stehmeier into custody on June 17. Later that day, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved felony charges of Dissemination of Child Sexual Abuse Material, a Class X felony, and Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material, a Class 2 felony.
He was ordered to Cook County Jail custody on June 18 following his first appearance hearing at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse.
The public is reminded that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
