Ex-Elgin cop successfully secures release from DeKalb County Jail using SAFE-T Act criteria: records

SYCAMORE – A former Elgin police officer from Kirkland charged with possessing videos depicting child sexual abuse has been released from DeKalb County Jail after successfully appealing his pretrial detainment under new SAFE-T Act criteria, court records show.

Jordan M. Collins, 33, was ordered released from police custody March 28 by Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick, according to DeKalb County court records. Buick’s ruling follows the Illinois Appellate Court determining she needed to reassess whether Collins could be released with stipulations that could mitigate any threat he posed to the public.

Justice Joseph E. Birkett on March 8 sent the case back to Buick for reassessment, court records from the Illinois Appellate Court’s 2nd District show.

“The order of detention is vacated and the cause remanded because the trial court failed to make findings as to whether any condition or combination of conditions could mitigate the threat that defendant’s pretrial release would pose,” appellate justices wrote in their March 8 opinion, records show.

Buick on Dec. 6 had ordered Collins’ held without release at the county jail in Sycamore where he’d been since his Dec. 4 arrest. Prosecutors that same day had filed a motion requesting his release be denied, arguing in court records that doing so would put the public at risk.

Collins’ lawyer, Decatur-based defense attorney Jonathan Erickson, argued in his Dec. 15 appeal that prosecutors failed to prove that Collins’ release posed a public threat, court records show.

Erickson did not respond to request for comment Thursday.

Following the appellate court opinion, Collins appeared March 28 for another pretrial release hearing in front of Buick, records show. During that hearing, Buick ruled instead that the court could release Collins from police custody and set criteria for him to follow to mitigate any potential threat to the community.

Collins is prohibited from using any devices that would allow him to connect to the internet, according to court records. He’s also prohibited from having unsupervised contact with anyone under 18, not including his children. He must adhere to pretrial release supervision, surrender any firearms or FOID cards in his possession, is prohibited from going to public libraries or residing anywhere with a firearm, and is not allowed to leave the state.

Collins resigned from the Elgin Police Department in December, according to a Dec. 28 news release from the department.

“The Elgin Police Department immediately launched an internal investigation with the city’s independent investigator following Collins’ arrest,” Elgin police chief Ana Lalley said in a news release. “Collins was notified of his scheduled interrogation and chose to tender his resignation rather than participate in the police department’s internal investigation.”

Collins previously pleaded not guilty to possessing videos depicting child sexual abuse after Illinois State Police searched his home Dec. 4 and allegedly found hours’ worth of digital video files, according to DeKalb County court records. He’s charged with two Class X felony counts of reproducing child sexual abuse material and eight Class 2 felony counts of possessing child sexual abuse material, court records show.

Class X felonies involving sexual violence are detainable under provisions laid out by the Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act, a part of the SAFE-T Act, which prohibits cash bail.

Deputy Bureau Chief Shannon O’Brien is prosecuting the case for the Illinois Attorney General’s office’s High Tech Crimes Bureau, along with prosecutor Scott Schwertley of the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Collins is ordered to appear in person at the courthouse for a status hearing at 9 a.m. May 23 in front of Buick, court records show.