CHICAGO – A Mount Olive man - Michael F. Curran - was charged in Macoupin County Circuit Court with 10 counts of possession of child pornography, each a Class 2 felony punishable up to three to seven years in prison.
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Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Friday the 69-year-old Mount Olive man was charged with possessing child pornography. The case is part of the Attorney General’s ongoing work to apprehend offenders who download and trade child pornography online.
Curran’s bond is set at $100,000.
“Child pornography forever changes the lives of victims and their families, and those who perpetuate these horrific crimes must be held accountable,” Raoul said. “I would like to thank the Mount Olive Police Department and the Macoupin County Sheriff’s office. Collaborations such as these are vital to my office’s efforts to track down and stop these offenders.”
Raoul’s investigators, with the assistance of the Mount Olive Police Department and the Macoupin County Sheriff’s office, conducted a search of a residence Thursday, May 13, in the 300 block of East Fourth North Street in Mount Olive and arrested Curran after discovering evidence of child pornography.
“The protection of our children is the highest priority for the Mount Olive Police Department,” said Berry. “This arrest serves as a fine example of the type of multi-agency cooperation necessary to bring these offenders to justice. We are very thankful for the resources and dedication the Illinois Attorney General’s office apply to these types of cases. “
“I would like to thank the Illinois Attorney General’s office for providing the much-needed resources to work these types of cases,” Kahl said. “They can become very complex and difficult to deal with, and we appreciate the Attorney General’s partnership.”
The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The arrest is part of Attorney General Raoul’s work to investigate and prosecute child pornographers in Illinois. Raoul’s office, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, runs the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force that investigates child exploitation crimes and trains law enforcement agencies. Since 2006, the Attorney General’s ICAC Task Force has been involved in more than 1,780 arrests of sexual predators. The task force also has provided internet safety training and education to more than 953,500 parents, teachers and students and more than 23,100 law enforcement professional
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