A non-compliant registered sex offender has been ordered jailed pending trial after he was allegedly caught viewing child pornography on a tablet at a Chicago Public Library branch in Bucktown, according to court filings.
David Rideout, 50, was taken into custody around 6 p.m. on September 15 after a woman called 911 to report that a man was watching child pornography inside the Bucktown-Wicker Park Branch, 1701 North Milwaukee Avenue.
Responding officers found Rideout seated with a black tablet displaying a screensaver of a “completely naked underage female” in a graphic sexual position, a CPD police report said. A library employee told investigators that surveillance cameras captured footage of Rideout holding the tablet and viewing images of naked underage girls, according to the report.
After interviewing Rideout at the library, officers learned he was not compliant with sex offender registration requirements and that he had an extraditable warrant issued in Kane County.
The tablet was turned over to CPD’s Special Investigations Unit. A search warrant executed on the device revealed hundreds of images and videos of child pornography involving children under the age of 13, according to prosecutors.
Judge John Hock ordered Rideout detained, calling him “very dangerous.” He is charged with two counts of possessing child pornography and violating the sex offender registration act.
Rideout’s profile on the Illinois State Police sex offender registry says he must register as a sex offender for life after being convicted in Sangamon County of sexually abusing a 6-year-old when he was 36.
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