A 38-year-old Dixon man was sentenced Wednesday to 120 days in the Whiteside County Jail and four years of probation in exchange for his guilty plea to a 2023 charge of possessing an image of child sexual abuse.

Alexander Leatherman was charged in March 2023 in Whiteside County with that Class 2 felony as well as one Class X felony count of disseminating an image of child sexual abuse. The latter charge was dismissed in June 2025 as part of a plea deal.

Leatherman also was ordered Wednesday to pay $5,814 in fines, fees and costs.

According to charging documents, Leatherman on Nov. 8, 2022, possessed and reproduced or shared a computer file of a child he knew or should have known was younger than 13. He faced 6 to 30 years in prison for the dissemination charge that was later dismissed, and 3 to 7 years in prison on the possession charge.

Leatherman was arrested after the Illinois State Police DCI Zone 2 Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force got a tip on the social platform X. Agents called him into the Sterling ISP location for an interview, where evidence gathered from his phone and his confession led to his arrest, the ISP said in a news release at the time.