New Lenox Man Given 7 Years for Child Porn, Burglary

A New Lenox man was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to two separate charges: aggravated possession of child pornography and residential burglary.

Alex J. Shingler, 21, of the 300 block of Carol Road in New Lenox, was set to stand trial before a jury on both charges Tuesday but pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to three years for the possession of child pornography, a class 2 felony, and received a consecutive four-year sentence for the burglary, a class 1 felony. Both sentences were the minimum allowed by law.

Shingler was charged with possession of child pornography in October 2009 after an undercover operation by the Wheaton Police Department led to his IP address.

The case was referred to the Will County Sheriff's Department, which executed a search warrant and recovered three computers and other electronic devices from Shingler's home. Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said Shingler told police he used the file sharing website Limewire to download photos and videos of child pornography about 20 or 30 times.

Shingler was arrested again in May 2011 in connection with a burglary at a neighbor's home, also in the 300 block of Carol Road. The victim told police he was woken up at 3 a.m. when he heard the screen door in the kitchen shut multiple times, but when he went to investigate he found no one. He later discovered four laptops were missing.

Hoffmeyer said Shingler went to the victim's home a few days later and admitted to stealing the computers.

"He said he had been drinking and that he didn't know why he did it," Hoffmeyer said. "He added he no longer had the computers and had thrown them in a nearby field."

According to police reports, Shingler's parents tried working out a deal with the victim to pay him back for the laptops, but the victim decided to press charges. Later, Shingler returned two of the four computers to the victim.

Chuck Pelkie, a spokesman for the Will County State's Attorney's Office, said the judge also recommended boot camp for Shingler, but that will be determined by the state Department of Corrections.