Man Masturbated, Looked At Porn At Riverside Library: Cops

RIVERSIDE, IL — A Berwyn man who used a computer at Riverside Library to access pornography was arrested by police on May 25, police said. Timothy Schnulle, 43, has been charged with one count of felony violation of a sex offender registration.

Police first began to investigate Schnulle the day before his arrest on May 25, after they received a call on May 24 from a library supervisor at Riverside Public Library reporting a man accessing pornography on a library computer. Police said when she confronted the man, he gave a fictitious name and continued to use the computer. When she confronted him a second time, he fled the library.

Police said they were able to obtain video surveillance of the offender, interview witnesses, and confiscated the computer that was used by the offender for forensic examination. They were able to identify the suspect as Schnulle two hours later.

On May 25, detectives then conducted a surveillance of Schnulle's last known residence and arrested him when he exited his home, police said. The offender was taken into custody without incident and transported to the North Riverside Police Department.

It was learned that Schnulle is a convicted sex offender. He was arrested by the Racine County Sheriff's Office in Wisconsin in October 2013 and charged with second degree sexual assault of a child under five. He was charged with numerous sexual offenses. He was eventually convicted and then moved to Illinois, according to police.

Police said Schnulle had visited the library several times over the last month. In each instance, he would look at pornography and get involved in live chatroom pornography. Schnulle admitted to looking at pornography, viewing live video of pornography, entering live chatrooms to talk about sexual acts, masturbating and ejaculating during his viewing of the pornography.

Police said Schnulle's terms and conditions of his sex offender registration state he is not allowed to access
social media sites, porn hubs, chatrooms or any other illegal sexually-related outlets. Schnulle told
investigators he was currently involved in mandatory counseling as part of his conviction in Wisconsin.

"I am extremely proud of the detectives that worked the case over this holiday weekend to arrest this sexual predator," Chief Thomas Weitzel said in a release. "Unfortunately, the terms of Mr. Schnulle’s previous conviction did not prevent him from entering a library. This is something that needs to be addressed. Any library will have children present and a convicted sex offender should not be allowed be in the same building where they will be in close proximity."

Police said Schnulle had no contact with any children at the library, verbal or physical.

The investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible in this investigation.

Photo provided by Riverside Police Department.