Trout Valley man, 78, accused of having images of child sexual abuse, destroying flash drives

A 78-year-old Trout Valley man is accused of possessing images of child sexual abuse and destroying flash drives of evidence.

Phillip A. Moss was charged with three counts of possessing images of children younger than 13 being sexually abused, possessing a video of a child younger than 18 being sexually abused and four counts of obstructing justice by destroying evidence, according to to a criminal complaint filed in McHenry County court last week.

According to the complaint, Moss physically destroyed four flash drives and made them unreadable “with intent to obstruct prosecution” that had “physical evidence relevant to the investigation.”

Moss was released from custody with pretrial conditions including that he have no contact with children, according to court records. He also is only allowed a court-approved phone with no internet access and must court-monitoring software on his computer.

Moss is due in court on Jan. 29.