Illinois man pleads not guilty to exploitation charges

By Jason Arndt
Editor

Christopher Leblanc

An Illinois man accused of soliciting sex from a 15-year-old girl in the Village of Twin Lakes on July 6 pleaded not guilty to four felony charges at a Sept. 13 arraignment in Kenosha County Circuit Court.

Christopher W. Leblanc, of Harvard, who did not speak at the hearing, faces counts of solicitation of sexual assault of a child under 16, possession of child pornography, sexual exploitation of a child, exposing a child to harmful material and use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.

Leblanc, 41, arrested by village police on July 6, allegedly started communicating with a 15-year-old girl he met online on June 28.

A relative discovered the communications on his cell phone, which contained nude images and conversations “sexual in nature” and reported the findings to another family member.

The family member, in turn, then contacted the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.

In response, Illinois authorities determined the girl lived in Twin Lakes, and relayed the information to a Twin Lakes police detective on July 3.

On July 5, the Twin Lakes investigator followed up with the victim, who told police he allegedly coerced her into downloading a phone application called “TextMe”, which creates a random phone number and used for calling and texting, the complaint states.

Through the TextMe app, the two had a two-hour phone conversation on July 4 and included plans to meet that day.

The plans, however, were delayed.

The detective, posing as the 15-year-old girl, took control of the phone conversation with the victim’s consent.

With coordination from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, village police arranged to have Leblanc meet at Lance Park, where authorities were waiting.

When Leblanc arrived, Twin Lakes police officers arrested him without incident, the complaint states.

While he declined to give a statement, according to the complaint, investigators recovered dozens of pornographic images of a child and items suggesting he planned to sexual intercourse with the girl.

Leblanc was out on signature bond at the time of his arrest and received an additional charge of misdemeanor bail jumping.

The signature bond relates to a case where he was charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct.

Leblanc, who exercised his right to a trial, will appear at an Oct. 25 judicial pretrial before Kenosha County Circuit Court judge Jason A. Rossell.


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