Child porn found in home of Cicero man charged with solicitation: prosecutors

Police found more than 1,000 computer disks with suspected child pornography in the Cicero home of a 74-year-old man who was free on bond after his arrest for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer posing as an underage boy, prosecutors said Monday.

Robert Kozel is a registered sex offender with multiple convictions for possession of child pornography prior to his November arrest in a sting by a police task force targeting online predators.

While Kozel was home on bond Friday, police searched his house and found four boxes containing a total of more than 1,000 computer disks and several hundred USB drives, Assistant State’s Attorney Kim Pressling said Monday after a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. A “preview” of several images on those disks found 10 pictures identified as child porn, Pressling said.

Investigators also found sex toys in the home that matched objects Kozel allegedly photographed and texted to the undercover officer in November. Kozel was arrested near the Pulaski Green Line stop Nov. 19, where he had arranged to meet the undercover officer in an exchange of online and text messages. The undercover officer told Kozel that he was 15 years old during those exchanges.

Judge Mary Marubio ordered Kozel held without bail on charges of indecent solicitation of a minor and child pornography. Kozel has prior convictions for child pornography offenses in DuPage County and was sentenced in 2009 to nine years in prison.