Prosecutors allege that a Crystal Lake man asked a stranger online for sexually explicit images of children ages 8 to 12.

Brian Lazaro, 22, is charged with four counts of possessing images depicting child sex abuse, a Class 2 felony, according to a criminal complaint in McHenry County court.

During Lazaro’s first court appearance Wednesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Zachariah Sitkiewicz argued that Lazaro is dangerous and should not be released from jail pretrial. Judge Cynthia Lamb agreed and detained him.

Sitkiewicz said Lazaro asked a person online, who he did not know, to send him images showing child sex abuse involving children between 8 and 12 years old. The prosecutor said Lazaro communicated with this person over the social media site X and set up a drop box where the images were sent.

On Tuesday, members of the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including McHenry County Sheriff’s Office personnel and digital forensics examiners from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, executed a search warrant on Lazaro’s parents’ home, where he lives. The search was prompted by a report of suspected possession of child sexual abuse material, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

In October, after the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children provided the sheriff’s office with information “pertaining to the possible possession of child pornography by an electronic service provider,” the sheriff’s office “initiated an investigation” that led to Lazaro’s arrest, according to the release.

Sitkiewicz said Lazaro admitted to police that he had the images on his cellphone.

Assistant Public Defender David Giesinger said Lazaro could be released with conditions, including that he have no access to the internet. Lazaro scored a zero on a dangerousness evaluation, has no criminal history, has a local job, goes to school and lives with family, where there are no children younger than 15, Giesinger said.

He has “significant ties to the community,” has been “at all times ... cooperative with police,” and the offense is punishable by probation, the defense attorney said.

Lazaro also never approached any children, created any images or disseminated any images.

“He reached out, and videos were sent to him,” Giesinger said.

But Lamb said Lazaro knew the images he received were of children being sexually abused, including one image the judge said involved a toddler. Lazaro was “seeking it out” and kept the images on his iPhone, where he could continue to review it, the judge said, adding that Lazaro’s alleged actions support “a market for this material.”