Bellwood police commander charged with possessing child porn

A Bellwood police commander was ordered held on $150,000 bail Saturday after being accused of possessing child pornography on his phone and iPad.

John Trevarthen, 45, is charged with three felony counts of possession of child pornography, the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office said.

In January, a Lombard police officer who is also a member of the Illinois Attorney General Crimes Against Children Taskforce received a tip about videos containing child pornography being uploaded to a phone with an email address registered to a home in Lombard, prosecutors said.

Following up on the tip, Lombard police began an investigation and seized Trevarthen’s iPhone during a traffic stop on Friday, prosecutors said. Authorities also executed a search warrant at his home and seized his iPad.

Investigators allegedly discovered that Trevathan used a personal IP address as well as an IP address owned by the village of Bellwood to view child pornography through Kik, a file-sharing app.

Trevarthen is due back in court March 8.