No charges planned in alleged porn case
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<p align="justify">The Illinois Attorney General's Office won't pursue charges over alleged pornography found on a county-owned computer more than three years ago, McDonough County Board Chairman Scott Schwerer said Monday.
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<p align="justify">Schwerer said he received a letter from the attorney general's office recently that said "there wasn't sufficient evidence to pursue charges."
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<p align="justify">Schwerer read the letter to the County Board's road and bridge committee last week. That's the committee that was presented with the initial allegations in the case.
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<p align="justify">A county-owned laptop computer, which was used in the office of former McDonough County Engineer Josh Richardson, was turned over to the state agency in 2004. The exchange was made after it was scanned at Western Illinois University's Office of Public Safety, which has the technology to look at its hard drives and search for possible deleted images.
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<p align="justify">The investigation began in October 2004, when county officials received complaints from employees in the county highway department that there could be pornographic images on the computer. The laptop was removed from the office by former County Board Chairman Bob Harwick, who said at the time he was the only person who could legally take it without a search warrant.
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<p align="justify">He also said that while the computer was contained in Richardson's office, other employees in the highway department also had access to it.
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<p align="justify">Richardson later resigned from the county for "personal reasons."
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<p align="justify">Two employees of the county's highway department, Bryan Graves and Jeremy Pestle, filed a federal lawsuit against the county in 2005. The lawsuit alleged Graves was demoted and Pestle was fired for reporting the images to county officials.
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<p align="justify">The five-count suit was filed against several county officials, including Richardson, and made allegations of retaliation.
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<p align="justify">Court filings in that case indicated Pestle discovered, while installing software on the machine, that pornographic Web sites had been viewed on the computer.
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<p align="justify">That lawsuit was later settled out of court, but county officials said they were advised not to release the terms.
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<p align="justify">Schwerer, who was not a member of the County Board when the investigation began, said Monday the county now considers the case a "dead issue."
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<p align="center">Reach Journal Star reporter Jodi Pospeschil at (309) 686-3041 or state@pjstar.com.
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