A former Crystal Lake city clerk faces three to seven years in prison when sentenced Thursday for possessing a lewd image of a child younger than 13.

Nicholas Kachiroubas, 46, has pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a visual reproduction on a computer of a child younger than 13 engaged in an act of lewd display, a Class 2 felony, according to an order in the McHenry County court.

In exchange for the guilty plea, additional felonies were dismissed, including nine counts of grooming and distributing explicit materials to a minor, court records show.

At the time he was charged last year, Kachiroubas was the longtime elected city clerk, having held the office since 2009. He has also served as a trustee for McHenry County College, worked as an associate professor at DePaul University in Chicago in the school of public service and was on the Illinois Community College Board. Officials from the community college board said he was removed from the board following the charges filed against him in June of 2024. DePaul officials have said Kachiroubas was no longer employed at the university, earlier news articles show.

At Kachiroubas’ initial court hearing last year, Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Miller told the court that investigators found evidence of Kachiroubas having “explicit” conversations with children as young as 12. Miller said Kachiroubas also possessed a nude photo of a child who was about 7 or 8 years old. When police asked Kachiroubas if he thought it was wrong for him to possess such a photo, he allegedly responded: “I guess I didn’t think I was doing anything [wrong].”

Following the criminal charges against Kachiroubas, Crystal Lake decided to end its practice of having voters elect a city clerk and moved to make it an appointed position.