Bellwood police commander from Lombard facing child porn charges

Bond was set at $150,000 Friday for a Bellwood Police Department commander accused of possessing child pornography.

John Trevarthen, 45, of the 300 block of East 17th Place, Lombard, is charged with three counts of possession of child pornography, according to a DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office news release.

In mid January, a Lombard police detective who is a member of the Illinois Attorney General Crimes Against Children Taskforce received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding suspected child pornography videos and photographs that were allegedly uploaded on a smart phone file-sharing application with an email address that registered to a home in Lombard, the release stated.

Following the tip, the Lombard police began an investigation. On Feb. 5, a traffic stop was executed on the defendant at which time his personal iPhone was seized. Additionally, a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s home resulting in the seizure of his iPad. Both devices were sent to the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit for analysis.

Trevarthen allegedly used a personal IP address as well as an IP address owned by the village of Bellwood to view child pornography through the file-sharing application Kik, according to the release.

“The allegations against Mr. Trevarthen are disturbing,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the release. “I would like to thank the Lombard Police Department as well as the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office for their outstanding work on this case.”

“I would like to thank members of my investigations team as well as the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office for their cooperative efforts that led to the charges filed against this defendant,” Lombard Chief of Police Roy Newton said in the release.

“Our Digital Forensic Unit once again demonstrates the value of having a unit dedicated specifically to processing technology,” DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick said in the release. “I commend our detectives who worked on this case and we will continue to bolster our efforts during this rise in cyber criminality.”

Trevarthen’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 8 for arraignment.