Amboy sex offender free after posting bond in child pornography case

DIXON – A registered sexual predator, who was on parole when he was charged with possessing one or more lewd photos of a girl younger than 18, argued successfully to have his bond halved.

Ethan Elmer Shaw, 27, of Amboy was charged June 15 in Lee County Court with three counts of possession of pornography and held on $100,000 bond.

On June 23, Assistant Public Defender Bob Lathe filed a motion to have his bail reduced, or to have his client released on his own recognizance.

Lathe argued that the amount was oppressive and violated the constitutional rights of Shaw, who is indigent.

Additionally, Shaw is not a flight risk nor is he a danger to the community, Lathe said in the motion.

Judge Jacquelyn Ackert reduced his bail to $50,000 at a hearing July 11, and three days later, Shaw posted $5,000 cash and was freed.

He has a pretrial conference Sept. 7.

Shaw, who sexually abused a 15-year-old girl in Lee County when he was 19, was paroled from the Illinois River Correctional Center in Canton on May 29, 2020, court records show.

According to investigators, he produced the images of the teenager as early as Aug. 1, 2021. They were found on his phone during a visit to his parole officer Jan. 18, State’s Attorney Charley Boonstra said.

Shaw faces two to five years and a mandatory minimum fine of $1,000, up to $100,000, on each of the three counts, plus revocation of his parole and resentencing to IDOC for up to the full term of his conviction.

According to online Lee County Court and Illinois State Police records, Shaw was charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a child age 13 to 16 on March 3, June 1 and Sept. 24, 2015, presumably of the same child.

He pleaded guilty on April 28, 2016, was sentenced to four years in prison and required to register as a sexual predator.

One count of criminal sexual assault using force was dismissed as part of his plea agreement.

At the same time, Shaw also was serving five years for a Johnson County conviction for possession of a weapon in a penal institution, Shawnee Correctional Center.