Chicago Area Men Arrested in Child Pornography Sting

Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was joined today by Michael Welch, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis office and Richard Ruminski, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Milwaukee office, in announcing the arrest of four Chicago area men for suspected distribution or possession of child pornography.

JOSE CARLOS GARCIA, age 22, of 1419 Muirfield in Schererville, Indiana and NEAL MASCHKE, age 40, of 0 North 248 Easton Avenue in West Chicago, were arrested in Skokie, Illinois on Saturday evening, without incident, by Special Agents assigned to the Chicago FBI’s Innocent Images Task Force (IITF). COREY STINEFAST, age 27, of  1107 83rd Street in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was arrested in Kenosha Saturday evening, without incident. A fourth man, MARK McGILL, age 24, of 1825 Arbor Lane in Crest Hill, Illinois was taken into custody earlier today.

All four men were charged in three separate criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago charging each with child pornography related offenses, all of which are felonies. According to the complaints, in June of this year the Chicago FBI’s IITF began investigating an informal group of self-described “Boy Lovers.” This group was interested and involved in the exploitation of minor children, specifically underage boys.

To investigate this group, the IITF instituted an undercover operation, which utilized a cooperating witness and undercover Special Agents. During the course of the investigation, the complaint alleges that numerous images of minor children engaged in sexually explicit acts were recovered from each of the men whose arrests were announced today.

The investigation was culminated this past weekend when GARCIA and MASCHKE met with a cooperating witness and undercover Agents at a hotel in Skokie. The gathering was staged by the IITF and was designed to allow for the arrest of the subjects of the investigation in a safe and controlled environment while at the same time, led to the recovery of additional child pornographic images.

Following the arrests on Saturday evening, search warrants were executed at residences in Schererville, Indiana; Kenosha, Wisconsin and Crest Hill, Illinois. Also assisting in this investigation were the Lake and Cook County, Illinois Sheriff’s offices; the Skokie and Crest Hill, Illinois Police Departments; and the Milwaukee and Kenosha, Wisconsin Police Departments.

GARCIA and STINEFAST appeared before Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in Chicago, Sunday morning, at which time they were formally charged. MASCHKE appeared today before Magistrate Judge Cole, at which time he was formally charged. McGILL is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan this afternoon. Those who already appeared in court were ordered held pending their next scheduled court appearance. If convicted of the charges filed against them, GARCIA, STINEFAST and MCGILL each face a mandatory minimum sentence of at least five (5) years incarceration, to a maximum of twenty (20) years. MASCHKE, if convicted, faces a maximum sentence of ten (10) years incarceration.

The FBI’s Innocent Images initiative was established in 1996 and is part of a nationwide effort to combat the manufacture, distribution and possession of child pornography. At present, there are 43 separate IITF’s in various FBI offices around the country which are investigating similar cases.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Copies of the criminal complaints filed in this case are available from the Chicago FBI’s press office at (312) 829-1199.