Fairbury police arrested 53-year-old Chad Cavanaugh of Marseilles on November 9 after he traveled to Forrest, where he is accused of planning to meet a child.
The arrest is still at the charge stage. Cavanaugh faces two felonies and has been released on pretrial conditions, WCSJ News reported Wednesday, citing area authorities.
What Police Allege
Cavanaugh allegedly used a social-media messaging app to chat, for sexual purposes, with a child 15 or younger, and he planned to meet that child in Forrest. The person waiting was not a child. Law enforcement officers portrayed the child he was allegedly planning to meet.
The CHAOS Task Force arrested him in connection with the two alleged offenses. Fairbury police made the arrest after the trip from Marseilles. He was taken to the Livingston County Jail and later released on pretrial conditions.
The Two Felonies
He was charged with traveling to meet a minor, a Class 3 felony, and indecent solicitation of a child, a Class 4 felony. The acts described are allegations. A charge is not a finding that he committed either offense.
Earlier Cases, Separate Outcomes
Other Livingston County cases involving a planned meeting and an officer in the child's place have already reached sentences. Those results belong to other defendants.
Hoodline reported that Micheal Siciliano pleaded guilty in Livingston County court to traveling to meet a minor, a Class 3 felony. He was sentenced to two years of probation, 30 days in the Livingston County Jail and 10 years of sex-offender registration. The same report said he allegedly traveled to Fairbury in March 2026 expecting to meet a child portrayed by police officers.
Colton Johnson, then 24 and from Loda, pleaded guilty to traveling to meet a minor and indecent solicitation of a child. Hoodline reported a sentence of three years in prison, credit for 148 days already served in the Livingston County Jail, and 10 years of sex-offender registration. Fairbury police and CHAOS Task Force members arrested him on January 24, 2024, after he arrived at a Forrest location where an undercover officer stood in for the minor.
Fairbury police also arrested 43-year-old Jacob Stalter for communicating with a child under 14, 25News Now reported. Police said Stalter arranged to meet the child for sexual purposes and met at a location in Forrest. After Johnson's 2024 arrest, the CHAOS Task Force said that arrest was its third that year involving sexual crimes against children, according to 25News Now.
None of those earlier sentences applies to Cavanaugh. He is out of the Livingston County Jail on pretrial conditions while the two felony charges remain allegations.
