Man caught in online sting had previous molestation conviction

A man accused of trying to solicit sex from an undercover agent posing as a 12-year-old boy formerly taught at an elementary school in Indiana and served a five-year prison sentence for child molestation there.

Thomas W. Thornburg, 52, of Springfield, was arrested Feb. 17. He thought he had arranged online to meet a DuBois Elementary School student at the school, but "Josh" was actually a federal agent. Thornburg is charged with indecent solicitation of a child under the age of 13, a felony for which he could be sentenced to four to 20 years in prison.

The case remains under investigation and could move to the federal courts.

Randy Custer of the Indiana Department of Corrections said his agency's records show that Thornburg served some time in Indiana state prisons. Custer didn't know the exact charges, but documents filed in the Sangamon County case indicate Thornburg was convicted of child molestation in 1986 and sentenced to five years in prison.

Thornburg had been a teacher and football and basketball coach in Indiana. The allegations involved boys who were 13 and 14 years old.

At the time of Thornburg's Indiana conviction, there was no sex-offender registry in Indiana, so there was no entity through which Thornburg would have to register or be tracked.

"We used to have a directory" of sex offenders, Custer said of a list that preceded the state's official sex registry. The directory was available to law enforcement officers, school districts and housing authorities, among others. But Custer said Thornburg's conviction predated even that list.

In the local case, according to a search warrant issued in Sangamon County on Feb. 17, Thornburg had sexually explicit conversations with someone he believed was a 12-year-old boy named "Josh," but who was actually an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

An affidavit filed to obtain that warrant indicates that Thornburg propositioned "Josh" and his brother, offering them $100 for sex.

Police asked a judge for permission to search Thornburg's apartment. They reportedly seized several pieces of computer equipment, 12 compact discs, a phone charger, 24 videotapes, documents and a black suitcase.

The documents do not say if any contraband was found.

At the time of his arrest, Thornburg worked as a manager of a McDonald's on West Jefferson Street in Springfield. In an interview with The State Journal-Register, Rob Black, whose son and wife worked at the restaurant, said Thornburg called his son last year and asked him for a date.

Black's son had recently turned 18, so Black said police told him to report the incident to McDonald's. He said he did.

"The police said it was a civil matter, and we should file sexual harassment charges, so that's why we talked to McDonald's," Black said. "No one wanted to help us."

Rick McGraw, owner of the McDonald's on West Jefferson, declined to discuss the case Wednesday.

"I don't think it would be in our interest to comment on this at this time," he said.

Sarah Antonacci can be reached at (217) 788-1529.