Fox River Grove man gets 9 years in prison for child porn

A 39-year-old Fox River Grove man was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to enticing a child to create a pornographic image.

Shawn M. Davy was charged in November 2020 with soliciting and possessing sexual images and videos of children under the age of 18, according to the complaint.

He was accused of messaging and asking for sexually explicit images from a child on a dating app, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time of his arrest.

Investigators with the sheriff’s office, Illinois Attorney General’s Office and Genoa Police Department used a warrant in November 2020 to search Davy’s house in the 2100 block of Evergreen Avenue, according to the release.

The Genoa Police Department began its investigation in February 2020 and contacted the Illinois Attorney General’s Office for assistance, according to the release. Officials were investigating messages exchanged between an adult and a juvenile victim on a dating app.

The most serious charges against Davy – which accused him of persuading a child under 18 to create a video with sexual content – were Class X felonies that carry with them a maximum prison sentence of 30 years in prison per count plus three years to natural life on mandatory supervised release, court records show.

State law requires child pornography convictions to be served consecutively, meaning had he been found guilty of each of the charges, he could have spent the rest of his life in prison.

These three Class X charges, along with 37 other charges were dismissed, as part of Monday’s plea deal.

The charge Davy pleaded guilty to was a Class 1 felony that carried a possible sentencing range of four to 15 years.

Davy must serve at least 50% of the nine-year sentence and will be on mandatory supervised release for one year that, according to the sentencing order signed by McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis. He will receive credit for the five days in spent in custody after his November 2020 arrest.

He also must register as a sex offender for life and pay about $4,750 in fines and fees, court records show.

Davy’s attorney, Jeffrey Altman, declined to comment.