Prosecutors alleged Thursday that a Lake in the Hills man used Snapchat to solicit sexually explicit videos from four children – ages 10 to 15 – and had inappropriate conversations with more than 100.

Ryan Shapiro, 47, is charged with four counts of soliciting a child for sexually explicit videos, Class X felonies, according to the criminal complaint filed in McHenry County court.

Shapiro was arrested Wednesday after an investigation that involved the FBI tracking multiple IP addresses to Shapiro and devices that he used to commit the offenses from home and work, Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Conroy said.

He made his first appearance before a judge Thursday, during which Conroy said Shapiro is dangerous to the identified children he interacted with, as well as any child, and should be detained. Judge Cynthia Lamb agreed and denied the systems administrator pretrial release.

Conroy said Shapiro has a felony conviction on his record from 10 years ago for theft of more than $10,000, a Class 2 felony, “a crime of dishonesty.”

Shapiro is now accused of having conversations via Snapchat with more than 100 children, prosecutors have said. He is charged with exchanging explicit videos with four children, ages 10, 14 and 15, last year in January, March, April and November, Conroy said. The investigation began when it was discovered that the 10-year-old was having conversations with a grown man, Conroy said.

Shapiro allegedly requested that the children do specific things and pose at specific angles when making the videos, and asked that they send longer videos. He sent videos of his own genitalia, and the videos captured his face, Conroy said, adding that Shapiro knew the ages of the children because they told him.

These children are “the most vulnerable victims in our community,” Conroy said, insisting that no condition or combination of conditions could mitigate the threat Shapiro poses.

But Shapiro’s attorney, James Kelly, said the state failed to prove Shapiro is dangerous. Kelly questioned why authorities knew of his alleged offenses in November but did not charge or arrest him until Wednesday. The prosecutor later said it was because the investigation was ongoing.

Kelly also said that Shapiro has not had any further communication with any children since November. The defense attorney said his client is stable, nonviolent and is part of the community. He has been married for 15 years, has a teenage child, a job of 15 years and, besides the theft conviction, he has no other criminal history.

Kelly said the identified victims live out of state, and Shapiro never spoke on the phone with or had any physical contact with any of them; he only communicated through Snapchat. The attorney also sought to cast doubt as to whether all the identified electronic devices actually belonged to Shapiro.

The state has shown “no evidence he is a direct threat to anyone,” Kelly said.

Shapiro could safely be released with conditions including that he have no access to Snapchat, and his devices could be monitored by court services, Kelly said.

However, in ordering the defendant be detained, Lamb said that if released and put on home confinement, Shapiro “will continue to seek out children and solicit them for images for his own sexual gratification.”

Shapiro is due in court again Sept. 19. Conviction on a Class X felony carries a sentencing range of six to 30 years in prison.