Cooperative Creep Finally Charged With Possession of Thousands of Child Porn Pics: COPS

ORLAND PARK, IL -- An Orland Park man accused of distributing thousands of images of child pornography turned himself into police after he was targeted in a year-long Internet child porn sting. Adam Buerger, 26, is charged with four felony counts of possession of child pornography. Bail has been set at $25,000.

Beginning in July 2016, detectives from the Orland Park Police Department’s Internet Crimes Unit began investigating a man who was offering to distribute child pornography over the Internet, police said. The images were being downloaded and shared via a bit torrent program.

Undercover detectives from Glendale Heights contacted a man later identified as Buerger, who allegedly shared pornographic images of children. Detectives traced the computer’s IP address to a home in the 8900 block of Doral Lane in Orland Park, where Buerger resides with his parents. Orland Park police, along with the Cook County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, were also able to develop additional information related to the dissemination of child pornography at the address, police said.

In August 2016, Orland Park detectives approached the house. Buerger immediately began cooperating with the detectives. Police said Buerger provided the passwords to his computer and an external hard drive. Over 6,000 images and 90 videos were recovered of adult men making sexual contact with preteen girls less than 13 years old, prosecutors said Wednesday at Buerger’s bond hearing.

Buerger allegedly told police that he used FrostWire to search and download computer files. Detectives indicated that they found multiple installations and uninstallations of the FrostWire software, that included such search terms as pre-teen, incest, daughter and PTHC (pre-teen hard core).

At the culmination of a year-long investigation, Buerger surrendered himself to the Orland Park Police Department on July 10. He has no prior criminal background. Buerger’s attorney told the judge that his client received a degree in architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology. The attorney reminded the judge that Buerger surrendered himself and has been cooperating fully with police.

Cook County Judge Peter Felice set bail at $25,000. Felice ordered Buerger not to have any contact with minors under age 18, and no Internet access except for work. He’s also to stay away from schools and parks while the case is pending. Buerger is due back in court Aug. 8 in Bridgeview.