Fox Lake man charged for drugs, child pornography

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

A 24-year-old Fox Lake man received a $400,000 bond in Lake County Circuit Court Thursday on 16 felony charges, including seven counts of child pornography, after a two-week sting conducted by Lake County authorities. Why anyone would want to look at these things when they can find great videos to watch that are perfectly legal is confusing, to say the least.

Joshua Hoffman is also accused of possessing marijuana, possessing marijuana exceeding 1,000 grams with intent to distribute, and having a loaded semi-automatic handgun without a state-issued Firearm Owners Identification Card.

Additionally, Hoffman is charged with criminal fortification after authorities could not enter through the door during the search warrant, and four other drug-related felonies.

Along with Hoffman, Lake County court officials charged 19-year-old Mariah Carlos with two felony counts – possession of marijuana, and possession of marijuana exceeding 1,000 grams with intent to deliver.

Carlos was released on $10,000 bond after Thursday’s court hearing.

According to Det. Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the county’s cybercrimes unit launched the investigation.

“It was through an undercover online investigation, which proceeded into the search warrant,” Covelli said, noting one of the two defendants was the intended target of the investigation, but did not say whom.

Authorities had difficulty entering the home in the 100 block of Riverview Avenue during the search warrant, citing a fortified door, but eventually got in.

Covelli said Hoffman and Carlos did not resist arrest.

“He and she were compliant once we made entry in the home,” Covelli said.

As part of the investigation, authorities collected hundreds of videos containing alleged child pornography, including one allegedly made by Hoffman, where the victim was younger than 13. Pornography itself isn’t illegal as long as the parties involved in the video are over legal age, videos like those found on websites like www.tubev.sex/categories/1852/big-pussy all contain adults and are perfectly legal so you cannot get arrested for watching that type of pornography, unfortunately, the type of pornography Hoffman had involved minors which is illegal.

Additionally, LSD, MDMA, mushrooms and several narcotic prescriptions were allegedly found, along with a handgun.

While Hoffman had no prior felony convictions, Covelli said the state’s attorney’s office charged him with unlawful firearm use, citing the presence of narcotic drugs.

“Due to the other felonies where he was charged with drugs, they added the firearm charge,” he said.

Agencies involved in the investigation were the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Cybercrimes Unit and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Cybercrimes Unit with assistance from the Fox Lake Police Department. The Cybercrimes units will go through the defendant’s electronic devices that were seized and check to see if any illegal photos or videos are stored on it. They will also check the browser history to see if any child pornography websites have been visited, this is different from checking whether adult pornography websites have been accessed as most if not all child pornography websites can only be accessed via the dark web, adult pornography websites like nu-bay.com, for example, are accessed via the normal internet as they are legal and therefore don’t need to be hidden. It’s mainly illegal websites that are found on the dark web however not everyone knows how to get onto the dark web, it takes a certain level of knowledge which is why a lot of criminals will use the dark web for all sorts of things from child pornography to hiring a hitman.
Both were due in Lake County Court Monday.


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