Ford County Man Sentenced for Sexual Exploitation of Multiple Children

URBANA, Ill. – A 78-year-old Ford County, Ill., man, Toetim Cizmar, of Cabery, has been ordered to serve consecutive sentences that total 140 years in prison for sexual exploitation of multiple children. On Dec. 7, U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow ordered Cizmar to serve four consecutive 30-year sentences for sexual exploitation of a child followed by a 20-year sentence for possession of child pornography.

On June 23, 2017, Cizmar entered pleas of guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child, involving three different children, aged three to six-years-old, from January through March 2014. Cizmar engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the children to produce visual depictions of the conduct. Cizmar also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography images at the time of his arrest, in December 2016. Cizmar has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest.

According to court documents, Cizmar presented himself to friends and family as a “humble” and “kind” elderly man and “loving” father. The government argued, however, that the evidence showed Cizmar’s private personae is “a manipulative pedophile, who consumes children for his own sexual pleasure.” The government argued for a life sentence stating that Cizmar groomed young children and their parents by presenting himself as a man of faith who dedicated his life to being an educator and gaining unfettered access to their young children. The government argued that Cizmar directed the children’s games “toward his perverted sexual desires” and based on his lack of remorse, there is reason to believe that Cizmar will never be rehabilitated. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson prosecuted the case which was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Illinois State Police.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.