Lake Villa man indicted on child porn charges

LAKE VILLA -- A Lake Villa area man has been indicted in connection with child pornography, police said.

Lake County Sheriff’s detectives concluded a child pornography investigation, which led to a Lake County Grand Jury indictment of 15 felony counts, according to a news release.

In August 2021, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies met a victim who had been unlawfully videorecorded at a residence in the 371000 block of Loretto Avenue in unincorporated Lake Villa.

The victim told police that while living with a family friend, Wilbur J. Maltby, 51, at the home on Loretto Avenue, she found a strange device plugged into an outlet in the bathroom. The device resembled a charging cube, commonly used to charge electronics, but a closer examination of the device revealed it appeared to contain a hidden camera.

The victim dissembled the device and found there was a memory card inside of it. An inspection of the contents of the memory card revealed nude footage of her and others inside the bathroom of the home. The victim called the sheriff’s office upon seeing what was contained on the memory card, police said.

On Nov. 9, 2021, sheriff’s detectives conducted a search warrant at Maltby’s residence. Sheriff’s detectives seized multiple electronic devices, including devices with electronic storage.

Maltby was initially charged Nov. 9, 2021, with two counts of unlawful video recording at a residence.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Cybercrime Division conducted an analysis on the devices seized during the search warrant, which revealed numerous photos and videos of nude individuals and manufactured child pornography, recorded at three different locations. Further investigation revealed Maltby was responsible for recording the nude images and videos of both children and adults.

Following the examination of the electronics seized during the search warrant and additional investigation, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office presented several additional charges to the Lake County Grand Jury.

On Jan. 19, the Lake County Grand Jury returned indictments for Maltby on the following charges: three counts of manufacturing child pornography (Class X felonies); seven counts of possession of child pornography (two Class 1 felonies, three Class 2 felonies, two Class 3 felonies); and five counts of unauthorized video recording (1 Class 3 felony, four Class 4 felonies)

“Our detectives did a terrific job thoroughly investigating this incident, which ultimately led to positively identifying nine additional victims,” Sheriff John D. Idleburg said in the release. “Due to their diligence, our detectives have been able to provide the first steps of justice for the identified victims.”