A Pawnee man has been arrested by state authorities and charged with soliciting and possessing child sexual abuse material.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s Office announced on Tuesday the arrest of 30-year old Craig Smith of Pawnee with one count of solicitation of child pornography and 10 counts of possession of child pornography, all Class 1 felonies punishable by up to 15 years in prison; and one count of failure to register as a sex offender, a Class 3 felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Smith is currently lodged at the Sangamon County Jail with a pretrial hearing scheduled for Monday, October 28th.
Raoul’s investigators, along with officers from the Pawnee Police Department and the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search of Smith’s residence in the 300 block of Washington Street in Pawnee on September 19th. An arrest warrant was issued after evidence of child sexual abuse videos was discovered, and Smith was arrested on Monday by members of the Illinois Crimes Against Children Task Force.