Judge denies return of electronics to child porn convict

A judge rejected a request from a former Braidwood teacher to have his cellphone and laptop returned because they had a “significant” amount of child pornography images, court records show.

On Wednesday, Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak ruled against 29-year-old Kevin Macha’s motion for the return of his Google Pixel cell and Lenovo laptop because they both contain “a significant number of child pornography images,” her court order said.

Bertani-Tomczak did allow Macha to get back an “unused, unopened” Samsung tablet over the objection of the Will County State's Attorney's Office.

On Nov. 12, Macha pleaded guilty to to possessing a digital image that showed a bound, naked boy portrayed as someone subject to "sadistic, masochistic, sadomasochistic abuse," according to a bill of indictment.

He filed a motion on Dec. 18 saying he wanted to “reclaim personal belongings not used in the offense linked to this case.”

Macha was sentenced to two years of probation and a 180-day suspended jail sentence. State's attorney spokeswoman Carole Cheney said if Macha completes his probation, he will not have to serve the 180 days in jail.

Macha was in jail for about three days after his Dec. 4, 2018, arrest. He was released after his father posted 10% of his $200,000 bond

Macha worked as a music teacher for Reed-Custer School District 255 in Braidwood until he resigned Dec. 19, 2018. He also worked as a director of the Joliet American Legion Band.

His teaching license was revoked as a result of his child pornography conviction, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

Cheney said prosecutors requested a prison sentence of two to five years for Macha while his attorney, Donald DeWilkins, requested sex offender probation, which includes lifetime sex offender registration.

Will County deputies said Macha was using a social media platform to share child pornography. Sheriff's spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said the platform was the website Tumblr, which banned adult content Dec. 17, 2018.