A Jacksonville man was sentenced to prison on Tuesday after his probation was revoked on a child pornography conviction from last year.
22-year old Demond L. Harris of the 200 block of North Church Street was arrested by Jacksonville Police in October 2022 after a 5-month long investigation into allegations of an individual possessing child pornography online. During an interview with detectives, Harris is said to have admitted to possessing explicit images of an underage victim, whom he knew was underage at the time the pictures were taken. Harris further admitted to obtaining the images illegally from the victim’s Instagram account.
Harris originally pleaded guilty to the single count of possession of child pornography on June 27, 2023 in Morgan County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 2 years of adult probation.
Jacksonville Police arrested Harris for a second time on August 18, 2023 on three counts of possession of child pornography resulting from July incidents and two counts of indecent solicitation of a minor that are alleged to have occurred twice in July, according to police reports. Charges were never filed in the case, according to online court records.
Harris was charged a third time on November 1, 2023 for being a child sex offender in a school zone from an incident on October 10, 2023. This charge was dismissed per the plea agreement with the court on Tuesday, with the state opting to revoke Harris’ probation instead.
Harris was re-sentenced on Tuesday to 2 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, 6 months of mandatory supervised release, and ordered to pay court costs. He was given credit for 2 days served in the Morgan County Jail.