Crime & Safety
LTHS Employee Charged With Transporting Child Porn
The La Grange Park resident was a part-time non-faculty staff member working with the school's TV and radio stations. School has put him on immediate unpaid leave.
Nathan Arger, 32, of La Grange Park was arrested yesterday by federal agents and has been charged with transporting child pornography via computer.
An undercover federal agent discovered pornographic images on a peer-to-peer network, which led federal agents to search Arger's home. On Sept. 23, FBI agents allegedly found images of child pornography on Arger's computer, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced today.
Arger is a part-time employee of , working in the school's television and radio stations as a non-faculty staff member. Arger worked after school, nights and weekends, LT officials said in a statement today.
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There are no allegations that Arger engaged in illegal activity with any LT students, or used the school's technology equipment illegally.
“Our attention is focused on the welfare of our students and all parents have been contacted,” LT Superintendent Timothy Kilrea said.
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Arger appeared in federal court yesterday and was ordered to remain in custody pending a detention hearing at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 27.
Federal agents said they logged onto an account on a peer-to-peer filing-sharing network on July 28. After searching the "friends list" on that account, agents found an individual using the screen name "Mrdizzle420" was also on the network. After browsing the shared directories for the screen name, agents downloaded over 700 images and 12 video files from Arger's computer.
A search of his computer and hard drive yesterday found about 160 gigabytes of "child pornography and child erotica" according to the press release. Also found in the search were photos and video of Arger with two young girls—one partially nude.
LT officials said that after learning of the arrest, Arger was put on immediate unpaid leave.
“We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and the school is cooperating fully with the LaGrange Park Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Kilrea said.
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