29 year old Sean Willis of Mt. Carmel has been sentenced to prison on child pornography charges in Wabash County Circuit Court. Willis was indicted in May of last year by a statewide grand jury in Lee County on the two Class X felonies in addition to a third count of failure to register as a sex offender. The Illinois Attorney General’s office brought the case to the grand jury which was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Shannon O’Brien of the high-tech crime bureau in Chicago.
Bond at the time was set at $750,000 but was later reduced to $20,000 which Willis posted. Appearing in court Monday, Willis entered a guilty plea to the two-child porn charge in exchange for the sex offender registry charge being dropped. Judge Tara Wallace of Hardin County sentenced Willis to 14 years in prison on each count with the terms to run consecutively. The sentences will be served at 50%. Upon his release from prison, Willis will be on three years to life of mandatory supervised release. All electronic devices seized during the investigation were also ordered forfeited. Wallace also referred Willis to alcohol treatment while in prison. In addition to the prison sentence, Willis was fined $4,000 and ordered to pay court costs.
