32 year old Chad Covalt of Mt. Carmel has entered a not guilty plea on three charges of predatory criminal sexual assault and four counts of possession of child pornography. Appearing in Wabash County Circuit Court Tuesday, Covalt waived his preliminary hearing and formal arraignment before entering the not guilty plea.

It’s alleged Covalt committed predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in connection to incidents between January of 2017 and last month with a girl under the age of 13. The four child pornography charges allege Covalt filmed and/or photographed the unclothed young girl between January of 2017 and January of 2020.

All 7 counts are Class X felonies. A Class X felony in Illinois carries a possible prison sentence of 6 to 30 years on each count. Covalt remains in the Wabash County Jail on a half million dollar bond.