Attorney General Madigan: Morgan County Man Faces Child Pornography Charges

Attorney General Lisa Madigan has announced the arrest of a Morgan County man after a search of his residence during a joint police operation discovered two laptop computers allegedly containing child pornography.

Bobby Lawson, Jr., 35, was arrested today following the execution of a search warrant at a home in the 1800 block of South East Street in South Jacksonville. Lawson is being held in the Morgan County Jail on $500,000 bond. He will appear for a first appearance next week in Morgan County Circuit Court.

The arrest is the result of joint investigations by authorities in Illinois and South Dakota through partnerships among the states’ Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces. Today’s events in Illinois involved investigators with Madigan’s office, the South Jacksonville Police Department and the Morgan County State’s Attorney’s Office.

“Our ability to work closely with law enforcement agencies throughout Illinois and across state lines is critical to investigating and apprehending offenders who target children,” Attorney General Madigan said. “Today’s arrest demonstrates our commitment to investigating crimes against children and putting these offenders behind bars.”

Morgan County State’s Attorney Chris Reif is prosecuting the case.

“When this situation presented itself, we reached out to the Attorney General’s office for their assistance,” said South Jacksonville Chief of Police Richard Evans. “Because of that assistance, the matter was handled quickly.”

Attorney General Madigan oversees the Illinois Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) Task Force with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, working with 164 partnering law enforcement agencies in Illinois. It is one of 62 similar task forces nationwide that investigate child exploitation crimes and provide Internet safety education and training programs. Since 2006, the Illinois ICAC Task Force has been involved in 419 arrests of child predators and provided Internet safety training and education to more than 228,900 parents and students and 14,000 law enforcement officers and prosecutors.

The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.