Man Arrested For Child Porn By Channahon Got $1M Bail Reduced

JOLIET, IL - A 26-year-old man who drew a seven-figure bail after his arrest in May by the Channahon Police Department on multiple charges of possessing child pornography has been free since June after a different Will County judge reduced his bail to $50,000, Patch has learned. On May 11, the Channahon Police issued a press release to announce the arrest of Joseph "Sloppy Joe" Stofko.

On May 15, the Will County State's Attorney's Office charged the defendant with two counts of child pornography, a Class 2 felony.

The criminal complaint states that Stofko possessed "a digital video depicting a fully nude male child, who is apparently under the age of 13" with an adult male sexually touching the child.

The second child porn charge states "that said defendant .... possessed a digital video ... depicting two fully nude male children, who are apparently under the age of 13" performing sex acts on each other.

In November of 2017, the Morris Police Department received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning the use of a “Dropbox” account used to store and share known images of child pornography. This tip eventually led to an IP address in Channahon," police announced in May.

"With the assistance of the Will County State’s Attorney’s High Tech Crime Bureau and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office ICAC Division, on May 11, 2018 Channahon Police executed a search warrant in the 22500 block of Deal Ave. in Channahon. Investigation at that scene led investigators to the residence of Joseph 'Sloppy Joe' Stofko, age 26, located at 610 Mack St. in Joliet. On a computer recovered from Stofko, investigators discovered several files of known child pornography."

After Stofko's arrest, he went before Will County Associate Judge Brian Barrett, who heard evidence presented by prosecutors. Barrett decided to set bail for Stofko at $1 million. In other words, the defendant needed to come up with $100,000 cash in order to get out of the Will County Jail.

Next, Stofko's criminal case went before Will County Circuit Court Judge Dave Carlson. At the time, Stofko was represented by Joliet criminal defense lawyer, Michael Renzi, court files show.

Around May 25, Renzi asked Carlson to lower the child pornography defendant's $1 million bail, but Judge Carlson ruled against the motion.

By June, the case was moved to Courtroom 404 of veteran Circuit Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak. As for Stofko, he changed attorneys. Stofko hired Western Springs criminal defense lawyer Michael D. Walsh.

On June 12, Walsh filed a motion to reduce his client's bail bond noting that "the defendant presently has a bond of $1 million."

Walsh noted "the two offenses as charged are both probationable offenses and ... there is a presumption that probation would be a sentence if convicted."

According to Walsh's motion, "the bond as set is extremely unreasonable given the charges, his lack of prior criminal convictions, or even contact with the criminal justice system, his ties to the community, his employment and education background and the lack of any evidence that the defendant is a flight risk."'

The lawyer's motion states "the defendant ... is a lifelong resident of the Joliet, Illinois metropolitan area ... the defendant is single but has immediate family residing in Joliet ... if he were to be released on bond, he would be residing at his parents' residence" in Joliet.

At "the time of his arrest, defendant was employed by the Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators (JULIE) where he has been employed on a full-time basis for four years. Defendant was employed on a part-time basis with JULIE prior to that along with part-time employment with Jewel-Osco," the defense lawyer's motion states.

Additionally, Stofko graduated from Joliet West High School, and he has attended Joliet Junior College "where he has been taking classes concerning business. (Stofko) is a few hours away from earning his degree."

Prior to Stofko's arrest on child pornography charges, "the defendant has no prior criminal convictions," Walsh informed the judge. "The defendant and his family are not able to raise the 10 percent deposit for the bond amount as it is presently set."

A review of the court files shows the judge agreed with the defense's lawyer request. Bertani-Tomczak lowered the $1 million bail on June 12 to $50,000.

Instead of needing to come up with $100,000 cash, Stofko's family only needed $5,000 cash.

Within a matter of hours of the court's ruling, Stofko's mother posted his bail. He was let out of the Will County Adult Detention Facility at 8 p.m. June 12.

When Judge Barrett originally set bail at $1 million, the judge also stipulated that Stofko could have no contact with children, no use of computers and no use of the Internet, if he posted bail.

Those same conditions remained in effect.

On July 12, Stofko's lawyer filed another motion, this time to modify the conditions of the bail.

Walsh informed the court that his client "is required to have access to the Internet as part of his job duties ... Defendant's counsel has communicated with JULIE who has advised counsel for defendant that defendant is unable to return to work because of the restrictions on his access to the Internet."

The motion asked Judge Bertani-Tomczak to allow Stofko "limited access to the Internet for work purposes."

Representatives of JULIE later informed the judge that the company cannot block Internet access from the defendant, court documents reflect.

As a result, Stofko's lawyer withdrew his motion, court documents state.

Even though Stofko has entered a not-guilty plea, a pre-sentence investigation has been ordered to be prepared for the judge's review, and it's due back on Oct. 9.

Stofko's next appearance in Courtroom 404 is set for Oct. 10.

Mugshot of Joseph Stofko via Channahon Police Department