Evanston Youth Sports Coach Charged With Making Child Pornography

SKOKIE, IL — An Evanston youth sports coach and parent volunteer faces 20 felony counts related to child pornography after investigators identified him as the operator of a sexually explicit blog, authorities said.

George G. Harrison, 53, turned himself in Monday morning at the Glenview police station to face charges of the possession, manufacture and dissemination of child pornography following an investigation that began more than two months ago with an online tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, according to police and prosecutors.

A tipster reported someone calling themselves "coachdaddy312" had been sharing child pornography on a Tumblr blog, prosecutors said at a bond hearing Tuesday before Cook County Circuit Judge Anjana Hansen. The Cook County Internet Crimes Against Children task force and Glenview detectives opened an investigation and found all of the account's identifying information matched Harrison's.

Harrison explained to investigators that he used his "Daddy and Coach" blog as a platform to fulfill sexual fantasies, the judge was told. In an interview with detectives last month, he admitted taking and receiving inappropriate photos of children, according to prosecutors. Harrison allowed investigators to search his phone and tablet, which turned up multiple pornographic images of children under 13, prosecutors said.

Following the search, a judge granted a two-year order of protection to keep Harrison away from children. Prosecutors said Harrison admitted volunteering at an Evanston elementary school. He has been a coach of youth softball and soccer in Evanston, according to past reports.

Police got another warrant for records from Tumblr, which deactivated Harrison's account in September. The website banned pornographic posts in December 2018, and Verizon announced its sale in August to the owner of the WordPress blogging platform.

Tumblr administrators turned over conversations between Harrison and other users that indicated that he was "working on grooming" a victim and describing sexual urges for children under 13, the judge was told.

During subsequent searches of Harrison's former home in Evanston and a phone found there, Glenview police found hundreds of additional pornographic images, including some involving children under 18 and others with children under 13, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors charged Harrison with 12 counts of possession of child pornography involving a photograph of a child under 13, three counts of possession of of child pornography involving a child under 18, three counts of dissemination of child pornography involving a child under 18 and one count of manufacturing child pornography of a child under 13 in connection with a photograph of a 12-year-old he allegedly took in September 2018.

Hansen ordered Harrison held in lieu of the $25,000 cash portion of his bond ahead of his next court appearance Dec. 17 in Skokie, records show. Should he post bond, the terms of his bail require him to be under electronic home monitoring, not to have any contact with anyone under 18 and to surrender his passport and any guns or firearms license.