Art Studio Owner Found Guilty of Possessing Child Porn

CHICAGO, IL — A Morgan Park man was found guilty of possessing child pornography following a three-day bench trial last month in Bridgeview. James Sonntag, 46, was arrested in June 2016, when Evergreen Park police officers working for the Cook County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said they had traced downloads of sexually explicit videos depicting children to his IP address. Cook County Associate Judge Colleen Hyland announced the verdict Monday.

Sonntag, the owner of a prominent Beverly art studio, originally faced 12 felony counts of possession and dissemination of child pornography. During his bench trial, Sonntag’s attorneys argued that as long as child pornography files aren’t opened and viewed, users cannot be held criminally liable under Illinois’ “safe harbor” rule. Hyland said the state failed to meet the burden of proof on the dissemination counts, but found Sonntag guilty of possession of child pornography, including a video showing a child under 13, and the others depicting children between ages 13 and 17.

Sonntag was arrested June 15, 2016, at his home in the 2300 block of West 110th Place in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood. In reading the verdict, Hyland cited Sonntag’s cooperation with investigators when confronted Sonntag in his backyard with a search warrant. Sonntag led officers to his basement office, where he provided them with wifi passwords to access a work computer and his personal laptop. Police said the eMule file sharing program was running on Sonntag’s laptop.

Sonntag admitted to Lt. Adam Zimmer of the Evergreen Park Police Department and a member of the ICAC task force, that he used eMule to download music, movies and pornography. He deleted those pornography files that he didn’t want to view.

Hyland said that the state failed to meet the burden of proof that Sonntag had “knowingly and voluntarily” downloaded child pornography. Investigators did not find sexually explicit videos of children on Sonntag’s hard drive. Gaps where the videos may have been originally stored appeared in the laptop’s library.

“[Officers] could not tell when the videos were deleted,” the judge said. “No one who has testified said the defendant found those videos and deleted them. The state has failed to meet its burden of proof [on five counts].”

The judge also said that defense expert Andrew Garrett testified that partial downloads could not be played on Sonntag’s laptop because Sonntag did not have the right video player. David Green a forensic expert the FBI's Regional Computer Forensics Lab and the state's expert witness, testified that no one had tried to play partially downloaded videos on Sontagg’s laptop.

“No evidence was presented that the defendant was able to play the partial videos,” the judge said. The state did not meet it burdens of proof [on four counts].”

As to the last three counts -- when Cmdr. Mike Fellows, of the Berwyn Police Department and task force member testified that he found three child porn videos stored on the laptop’s hard drive in a file folder named “"Jim's Documents: Other File,” which included such descriptive titles as “PTHC [preteen hardcore],” “pedo-pth.”

As for the remaining charges,Hyland said that Sonntag could not rely on the “safe harbor" rule, which allows users to delete inadvertently downloaded child pornography files. The arresting officer, Zimmer, testified that Sonntag told police would they would probably find child pornography on his laptop and admitted to having a “morbid curiosity.”

“He cannot escape his own words and morbid curiosity,” Hyland said. “I find the defendant guilty.”

Sonntag, wearing a T-shirt, jeans and athletic shoes,” balled up his fist and covered his eyes. He looked toward his wife, who was crying in the gallery, as well as at other family members.

The judge revoked Sontagg’s bail. His wife was told to sit down when she tried to give deputies her husband’s prescription medications.

A pre-sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 8 in Bridgeview. Sonntag, who has no prior criminal background, faces a sentence ranging from probation to 6 to 14 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Ald. Matt O’Shea, who attended the trial and most of Sonntag’s court hearings, thanked the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Internet Crime Against Children Task Force, and the multiple law enforcement agencies that worked together on the case.

“This is yet another reminder that we have to do more to protect our children from exploitation no matter where it occurs,” O’Shea said.