Registered Sex Offender Caught With Child Porn In Crest Hill: Sheriff

MORRIS, IL — A 30-year-old registered sex offender who was discovered to be living in Crest Hill at the apartment units on Arbor Lane is now in the Grundy County Jail following a long child pornography investigation, Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley announced Friday.

Joseph Mitchell Hoggard is charged in Grundy County with aggravated possession of child pornography, possession of child pornography, dissemination of child pornography and duty to register as a sex offender. After getting out of prison in Tennessee a year ago, Hoggard moved to the rural Coal City area.

According to Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley:

On Dec. 14, Briley's agency got a report of possible child pornography possession from the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which got notified by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Grundy County Sheriff’s detectives did search warrants on the internet accounts of Hoggard, the registered sex offender, who at the time lived on Carper Road, in Grundy County, and detectives uncovered hundreds of images of known child pornography.

During the ongoing criminal investigation, Hoggard moved out of the home on Carper Road, and registered as homeless on Jan. 19.

Sheriff’s investigators monitored Hoggard’s movements and determined he was living in an apartment in the 1700 block of Arbor Lane in Crest Hill, in violation of his sex offender registration status as homeless.

In 2013 Hoggard, while living in Tennessee, was charged with aggravated exploitation of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor. He was found guilty and put in the Tennessee Department of Corrections until his release in February 2022.

Hoggard served 100 percent of his sentence and then moved to Grundy County, Illinois and registered as a sex offender with the Sheriff’s Office as required, the sheriff noted.

On Thursday, Grundy Sheriff’s detectives searched the Crest Hill apartment where Hoggard lived, seizing evidence from devices containing known and suspected child pornography. Hoggard was arrested and put in the Grundy County Jail to await a bond hearing.

Briley's press release said his agency thanked the Grundy County Pro Active Unit, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, The Crest Hill Police Department, the Will County Sheriff’s Department High Tech Crimes Unit, and the Grundy County State’s Attorney’s Office for their assistance.