Former Pastor From Campton Hills Faces Child Porn Charges

KANE COUNTY, IL — A Campton Hills man who was a pastor at the Rejoice Lutheran Church in Geneva has been arrested and faces possession of child pornography charges.

Michael Willis has been charged with two counts of child pornography - exhibit, reproduce, disseminate film, video and photo; three counts of child pornography - possessing moving depiction; and child pornography - possessing computer photograph, according to online court records.

Willis was arrested earlier this week and released on a $4,500 bond Tuesday, according to online jail records. He's been ordered to physically surrender firearms, not to possess any electronic devices that allow access to the internet while he is free on bond and not to have any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18 years old.

Willis, 44, of Campton Hills, is accused of possessing and sharing illicit images and videos of girls between Nov. 28, 2022, and April 10, 2023, according to the Daily Herald.

A synod official told the Daily Herald the church learned of the investigation into Willis, who according to the church's Facebook page was hired to lead the youth ministry, in April, putting him on leave at the time before he ended up resigning from Rejoice in June.

Willis is next expected in court on Aug. 16 for a plea hearing.