South Holland Man Accused in Child Porn Sting is an Ordained Minister

Timothy DeVries | Orland Park Police Department

ORLAND PARK, IL -- An ordained minister was arrested after a nine-month undercover investigation by a Cook County Internet child porn task force after thousands of images depicting young children engaged in various sex acts were recovered from his home computer, prosecutors said.

Timothy DeVries, 51, of the 16700 block of South Dobson Avenue, South Holland, appeared before Cook County Judge Michael Kane on charges of disseminating child pornography and possession of child pornography. The minister was arrested after Orland Park police executed a warrant at DeVries home in South Holland.

The Cook County Internet Crimes Against Children task force, comprised of law enforcement from around the Chicago area, began investigating DeVries in April. An investigator from the task force found DeVries to be using a peer-to-peer, public software sharing program on his computer, prosecutors said.

According to the charges, on April 8, the investigator downloaded a video file of suspected child pornography offered for distribution by DeVries to his peers on the network sharing program.

• Also on Patch: South Holland Man Shared, Stored Child Pornography: Cops

An investigator later browsed numerous images of child pornogrpahy files allegedly offered by DeVries for distribution on the same network on Sept. 27. Prosecutors said the files depicted children under the age of 13 engaged in different sex acts, including children who were bound and restrained, as well as sex acts involving excretion and urination.

“I think I’ve heard enough,” Judge Kane said in the middle of the prosecutor’s lengthy recitation of images reportedly found on the minister’s laptop.

DeVries’ attorney said his client was cooperative during the search and investigators’ interview at his residence. The minister has been married for 18 years and shares a home with his wife. The couple has no children.

DeVries, who has dual citizenship in the United States and Argentina, is a “church planter,” a minister who sets up churches in foreign countries, including South America.

The attorney said the minister was a low flight risk and asked for bail to be set at $75,000 that “his family can raise.” The images found on DeVries’ computer had accumulated over a seven or eight year period, he said.

“My client has never disseminated child pornography,” the attorney said. “There is nothing showing he disseminated child porn. These images on his computer may have been offered to him.”

DeVries’ attorney also asked for the return of his wife’s work computer that was seized during the search of their home.

According to the Grand Rapids, MI-based Calvin College website, DeVries is an ordained minister for the Christian Reformed Church.

The minister’s LinkedIn profile shows DeVries as the current executive director of Vision 2:14, where he is listed as an “international church planter” trained in “church growth ministry.” Prior to that he was a vice president for The Bible League. He also claims to be fluent in English and Spanish.

DeVries wore a T-shirt and stood with his head bowed during his bond hearing Thursday. Prosecutors said he has no prior criminal background.

Bail was set at $250,000. Special conditions of bond include no contact with children under the age of 18 and no Internet usage. Devries is also to surrender his passports to the Cook County Sheriff should he bond out of jail.

DeVries is due back in court in Bridgeview on Jan. 6.