Stillman Valley fugitive wanted in child porn case arrested in California

OREGON – A Stillman Valley man wanted for almost a year on a $500,000 warrant for failing to appear in court in a child pornography case was arrested last month at a Los Angeles hospital and appeared Wednesday in Ogle County Court.

Joshua Lake, 29, was arrested at 3:20 p.m. June 14 at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, the Los Angeles Police Department Media Relations Division said in a news release.

Why he was there was not disclosed. He was extradited to Illinois on Monday and is being held in the Ogle County jail.

His attorney, Eric Arnquist of Rochelle, filed a motion Wednesday seeking to reduce Lake’s bond. A hearing is set for Wednesday.

Lake was indicted May 4, 2021, on two counts of disseminating child pornography, and eight counts of possessing it. He was freed after posting $3,000 of his bond, which had been reduced to $30,000 from $50,000, court records show.

He was found unfit to stand trial on March 3, 2022, and was undergoing court-ordered treatment, with the expectation that such treatment would render him fit, when he failed to appear for a follow-up fitness hearing Aug. 30.

He was found fit at that hearing, and the arrest warrant was issued, records show.

According to the indictment, all 10 charges involve videos or, in one case, a photo, of children younger than 13 having sex with or engaged in other sex acts with adults and/or other children, including an infant.

Dissemination of child pornography is punishable by six to 30 years in prison with no possibility of parole, a fine of $1,000 to $100,000 and three years of supervised release. Possession is punishable by three to seven years on each count, a fine of up to $100,000 and three years of supervised release.

Each sentence must be served consecutively.

Lake was arrested as part of a 2018 Illinois State Police investigation with the Attorney General’s Hi-Tech Crime Bureau, which had identified child pornography being shared out of Stillman Valley, investigators said at the time.