A 61-year-old former Chicago Heights police officer who now works for Prairie State College's police department was booked into Cook County Jail on September 4 and remains held without pretrial release, charged with possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. Robert Wald has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience, according to court documents cited in the case.
The investigation began after authorities received a CyberTip from Kik, the social media messaging platform, according to FOX 32 Chicago. That tip identified a Kik account allegedly operated by Wald, which court documents say contained child sexual abuse material. Court records allege the investigation involved both possession and distribution of the material, and the station's report is based on Cook County court documents and the sheriff's office.
Kik and other electronic service providers are legally required under 18 U.S. Code § 2258A to report apparent child sexual abuse material found on their platforms to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children through CyberTips. NCMEC's CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports nationwide in 2025, with analysts escalating more than 53,000 urgent leads involving imminent harm directly to law enforcement agencies, according to MissingKids.org.
A Two-Decade Career in Local Law Enforcement
Wald served with the Chicago Heights Police Department before moving to the Prairie State College Police Department, where he currently works, per court documents referenced in the FOX 32 report. Prairie State College, located at 202 South Halsted Street in Chicago Heights, describes its campus police department and its jurisdiction under Illinois law, according to Prairie State College. The college also provides information about the campus department.
Wald's ties to local policing run deep. In April 2013, he was among eight Chicago Heights police officers who received a commendation from the Chicago Police Department for helping locate and arrest a gang member connected to a Dan Ryan Expressway carjacking and officer shooting, according to Patch. In December 2021, the Prairie State College unit was the subject of a union document posted by the Illinois Council of Police, ICOPs.
Judge Cites Police Training in Detention Order
A judge ordered Wald detained rather than granted pretrial release, determining that his investigative experience and law enforcement knowledge could increase his risk of avoiding detection, per court documents cited by FOX 32. Wald remains in custody at Cook County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court on September 25.
That decision falls under Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act, which took effect in September 2023 and abolished cash bail statewide. Under the law, judges may order pretrial detention only if prosecutors prove specific criteria, such as a real risk of willful flight or a threat to public safety, according to the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. Since the law took effect, courts have applied its pretrial detention standards.
Potential Penalties If Convicted
Potential penalties and registration requirements would depend on the applicable law. Wald is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and no additional details about his defense have been made public.
The case follows a January law enforcement action in Chicago Heights. In January, Cook County Sheriff's Police Organized Crime Division executed a compliance sweep that seized guns and drugs in the city.
