Joliet Child Pornography Defendant Jeremy Ledesma Wants To Visit Public Libraries, Judge Issues Her Ruling

JOLIET, IL — Exactly three months after now-fired Joliet Public School District 86 janitor Jeremy Ledesma regained his freedom from the Will County Jail, the Joliet child pornography defendant had another successful outcome inside the Will County Courthouse.

On Wednesday, Will County Judge Amy Christiansen — against the wishes of the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow — ruled in favor of Ledesma and his private attorney, Kristine Honiotes of downtown Joliet's Honiotes Law.

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According to the judge's decision, "it is hereby ordered that, over the People's objection, the defendant's pretrial release is modified to allow him to travel to a public facility such as a public library for the purpose of using the Internet to seek employment."

While Ledesma was in the Will County Jail back in January for a total of eight days, he was terminated by his employer, Joliet Public School District 86, at the January school board meeting. Ledesma worked as a janitor at Eisenhower Academy and had custodial duties at Keith Grade School.

Judge Christiansen's order goes on to state that, "He shall be allowed to travel to the library and remain there for two hours a total of two times per week. He shall not use the Internet for any other purpose other than to seek employment."

Will County court records indicate the three crimes involving child pornography happened in February 2025. Ledesma's house in Plainfield was raided by the Will County Sheriff's Office at the end of September.

January's petition to deny pretrial release by the Will County State's Attorney's Office noted that Ledesma made four different videos filming children on the playground at Eisenhower Academy elementary school, filmed from inside the janitor's office at the Joliet school building.

Although the videos did not show child pornography and were not criminal in nature, the production of these videos "sheds light on the defendant's state of mind," Will County Assistant State's Attorney Adam Capelli argued back in January before a different judge.

During the SAFE-T-Act arguments, Capelli maintained that Ledesma was trying to distribute child pornography, but Snapchat thwarted his attempts to upload the child pornography to their site, and that ultimately spurred the Will County Sheriff's Office, which began its investigation last May.

Ultimately, Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak, who has served as a judge for over 30 years, ruled in favor of Ledesma during January's SAFE-T-Act detention hearing.

She pointed out that the Will County Sheriff's Office investigation surrounding the child pornography photos and videos began last May and a search warrant at Ledesma's house in the 6900 block of Twin Falls Drive in the Plainfield area was carried out at the end of September, yet authorities did not take Ledesma into custody at any point until last week.

"He's been in the community since May of last year," Judge Bertani informed Capelli. "The defendant's been free all this time."

However, back in January, Judge Bertani imposed several restrictions on Ledesma's movements in the community once he was freed from Will County's Jail. She ordered Ledesma to remain under home confinement. He can only leave his family's house in Plainfield for medical appointments, to meet with his lawyer or to attend religious services.

When Capelli asked the judge to put Ledesma on electronic monitoring, she agreed to do that. Additionally, Judge Bertani told Ledesma he was to have no unsupervised contact with minors and no computer or Internet use.

As for Judge Christiansen — the judge now presiding over Ledesma's child pornography case — she was a long-time Will County Public Defender until being appointed to an opening on Will County's bench by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2024. She just ran unopposed in March's Democratic primary for the open Will County Circuit Court Judge vacancy created when long-time Judge Dave Carlson left the bench to return to private practice.

Christiansen will be on the November election ballot against Plainfield Republican and private practice criminal defense lawyer John Paul Ivec, whose law offices are on Caton Farm Road.