A Wabash County man convicted on multiple child pornography charges will be sentenced in September after appearing in court Monday morning for a resentencing hearing ordered by the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court.
Thirty-eight-year-old Chad Covalt appeared in Wabash County Circuit Court with his attorney, Daniel Shinkle. Rather than imposing a new sentence Monday, the court ordered the Wabash County Probation Department to prepare a pre-sentence investigation. Sentencing is now scheduled for September 14 at 9:30 a.m.
Covalt was convicted in 2022 on 29 counts of child pornography following a bench trial and was originally sentenced by Judge William C. Hudson to 120 years in prison. At the time, Wabash County State's Attorney Kelli Storckman successfully argued the offenses occurred during two separate courses of conduct, resulting in consecutive 60-year prison terms.
Last October, the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court upheld the vast majority of Covalt's convictions but ruled that two convictions could not stand under the "unit of prosecution" doctrine. The court vacated those two convictions and sent the case back to Wabash County for resentencing while affirming the remaining convictions.
Covalt was arrested in May 2021 after his ex-wife discovered child pornography images on his cellphone and turned them over to law enforcement.
