A Waverly man who was previously convicted of criminal sexual abuse in Morgan County was arrested Wednesday for multiple charges of child pornography.
31-year-old Michael A. Timmons of the 400 block of South Grove Street in Waverly was booked into the Morgan County Jail at approximately 4:00 pm Wednesday on charges of child pornography and harassment through electronic communication.
At the time of his arrest, Timmons was out on bond for a pending charge of failure to register as a sex offender stemming from an arrest in February of this year.
Timmons made a first appearance in Morgan County Court today. The Morgan County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a six-count criminal information against Timmons today in court.
Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll says all six charges are for possession of child pornography ranging from Class 3 felonies down to Class 1 felonies. “We charged him with six counts of possession of child pornography. Some of the counts are mandatorily consecutive. So the sentencing range, if convicted on all counts, is between a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 79 years.”
Counts five and six charge Timmons with possession of digital photos and count four of possession of video imagery of someone under the age of 18 years old. Counts one through three charge Timmons with possession of pornographic digital photographs of someone under the age of 13.
Timmons was charged in 2011 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of someone between the ages of 13 and 17 years old. He pleaded guilty to one count and was sentenced to serve 180 days in jail, four years probation, and ordered to complete a sexual offender program, have no contact with the victim and no contact with minors without consent of probation, and to obtain alcohol/drug assessment and obtain treatment as well as mental health treatment.
Timmons pleaded guilty to a petition to revoke probation in 2015 after he was arrested on another charge of criminal sexual abuse. He was sentenced to serve four and a half years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by four years of mandatory supervised release with the first two years being home detention.
Bond was set today in Morgan County Court at $500,000 with 10% to apply. He is next due in court on August 1st for a preliminary hearing. Timmons currently remains held at the Morgan County Jail.