A renowned Abraham Lincoln impersonator and former high school teacher will avoid state prison time after pleading guilty to child pornography and patronizing a prostitute back in April.
64 year old George Buss was sentenced to 4 years of adult probation, a $1,000 fine, and sentenced to 120 days in the Stephenson County Jail, and ordered to pay for court assessments as well as to have sex offender evaluations and follow up on the child pornography charge. Buss must also register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.
Buss was also sentenced to 30 months of probation and an alcohol evaluation concurrently for the prostitution solicitation charge.
Buss was arrested by Freeport Police on August 28th, 2020 at his home after a six-month investigation. According to court records, Buss was in possession of a video of children engaged in sex acts.
Since 1986 the retired Freeport High School teacher has portrayed Abraham Lincoln all over the United States and was the official Lincoln impersonator for the annual reading of the Gettysburg Address at the Gettysburg National Military Park. He performed at Illinois College as recently as February 2020.
22 year old Tyler Dotson, of Leaf River was also charged in connection to the investigation into Buss for two counts of dissemination of child pornography. Dotson plead guilty to one count of reproduction of child pornography and three counts of non-consensual dissemination of a sexual image in September 2020 and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.