Chicago High School Teacher Charged With Transporting Child Pornography
Mexican airport screening that flagged illicit images led to U.S. agents seizing multiple electronic devices and federal prosecutors filing charges.
Overview
- Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois announced Friday that 42-year-old Thomas Neal has been charged with one count of transportation of child pornography.
- Prosecutors say Neal flew from O'Hare to Mexico City on June 17 and Mexican screening officials identified images and videos on his phone that they determined were child pornography.
- Mexican authorities seized Neal's phone, two laptops and six electronic storage devices and returned him and the luggage to the United States on a flight to Houston.
- Homeland Security Investigations reviewed the seized devices in Texas and reported finding hundreds of files that constitute child pornography, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
- Neal remains detained in federal custody pending a detention hearing in Chicago; the transportation charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years.