Peoria County resident Rose Magnus, 26, has been released on conditions before standing trial for child pornography charges. According to 25 News Now, Magnus was arrested last Thursday following a four-month investigation, which involved a search of his Bellevue home and culminated in his admitting to the reception and distribution of illegal images and videos across various social media platforms.
Associate Judge Mark Gilles has set forth several conditions for Magnus' release, which notably include a nightly 7 p.m. curfew and a restriction to only use social media for his ongoing community college classes. The suspect is expressly forbidden from having unsupervised contact with minors. As reported by 25 News Now, the Class X felony charge for possession of child pornography Magnus faces could result to unequivocally mandate for a prison sentence of six to thirty years. Magnus is expected back in court come November 20 for an arraignment.
The Peoria County Sheriff's Office detailed that their detectives initiated the arrest after a search warrant was executed at Magnus' residence on N. Bellevue Ave. Electronics containing child pornography were discovered during the search, as stated in a post on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
Rose Magnus reportedly acknowledged to detectives that he knowingly engaged in receiving and spreading child porn via Kik, Telegram, Dropbox, and Session. The investigation required the procurement of several search warrants on these diverse social media accounts to uncover the illicit activity. Media attention surrounding the case has heightened due to the nature of the crimes and public interest in the judicial processes governing such offenses.
