RIVERDALE, Ill. (CHICAGOPRESSRELEASE.COM) — Over 1,000 sexually violent images of child porn –hundreds featuring babies– were recovered in an investigation by the Cook County Sheriff’s office that led to the arrest of an elderly south suburban Riverdale man on Thursday.
Edward Mate, 78, of the 14500 block of Edbrook Avenue in Riverdale, was arrested Thursday morning at his home. He is charged with one count of aggravated child pornography, according to a release from the Cook County Sheriff’s office.
Mate appeared for a bond hearing Thursday afternoon at the Markham courthouse and was ordered held on $100,000 bond, the release said.
The investigation began in April when Yahoo.com contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who then contacted Cook County authorities. Detectives traced the online activity to Mate’s IP address, the release said.
When police initially visited Mate’s home, he admitted to using some of the same email addresses and chat rooms associated with the pictures that prompted the Yahoo investigation. His wife also said only her husband used their computer, the release said.
Mate, who runs a small business at home, later admitted he kept child pornography under several files on his computers and transferred them to floppy disks and CDs. He labeled them “K” for kids, “KK” for pre-teens and “KKK” for small children and infants, the release said.
Two desktop computers, a laptop, an external hard drive, several floppy disks and CDs seized from Mate’s home were seized and turned over to the Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory in Chicago. Investigators called the thousands of images of child pornography –hundreds of which involved violent sexual acts performed on babies– among the most disturbing they have ever recovered, the release said.
Mate said he uses a much-younger stranger’s photo to talk on online chat rooms about bi-sexuality, homosexuality and incest and to trade child pornography pictures on Yahoo and other Web sites. Mate said he has been collecting the images for 20 years, the release said.
Mate also said he purchased another computer after the initial seizure in April to continue receiving violent images of children, the release said.
Mate currently remains in custody of a medical division of the Cook County Jail, the release said. He will appear for a preliminary hearing at the Markham courthouse on June 17.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.