McHenry man charged with possessing 22 images of child sex abuse. is detained in county jail pretrial

A McHenry man who is charged with 22 counts alleging he possessed images of child sex abuse was detained in the county jail pretrial Wednesday.

David Currier, 69, of the 2900 block of Cherryhill Court, is charged with one Class X felony count of possessing images of child sex abuse, and 21 Class 2 felony counts of possessing images of child sex abuse, according to the criminal complaint filed by Woodstock police in the McHenry County court. Woodstock police are part of the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes against Children Task Force.

If convicted on the Class X felony, Currier could face up to 30 years in prison. At a detention hearing Wednesday Judge Carl Metz ordered Currier to be detained in the county jail pretrial, court records show.

Metz found that Currier is a “real and present threat” and that distributing images of child sexual abuse harms the community, Metz wrote in the court order detaining Currier.

The judge said Currier was “creating a conduit to allow others to download the images” and he noted “the sophistication of the defendant’s computer system and his ability to use it.” Metz also said it was “by chance and luck that detectives were able to detect [Currier’s] conduct and locate the files.” When the warrant was executed Currier’s server was down, but he was logged into the computer, which otherwise would have been encrypted.

“The court has no way to set any condition to ensure [Currier] will not outsmart or outwit any monitoring ... given his ability to build his own system and computers. The court is not satisfied [Currier] would follow the court orders,” Metz said. “Additionally, the court is concerned given the sheer volume and the fact that the system was just left open so anyone could access the data. There is no combination which can mitigate the risk posed by [Currier].”

He is due in court July 26. His attorney declined to comment.