CHICAGO — John C. Vastis, a former middle school teacher from Lakemoor, Illinois, has been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for accessing child pornography and encouraging underage boys to produce explicit images.
According to court documents, Vastis began communicating online with one of the victims in 2013. The chats were sexually charged from the outset, and Vastis encouraged the victim to record sexually explicit photos and videos of himself and transmit the images over the internet to Vastis.
For nearly a year, Vastis watched child pornography involving the victim and possessed images of a prepubescent boy performing a sex act on an adult male. Vastis, 54, pleaded guilty last year to one count of accessing child pornography with the intent to view.
U.S. District Judge John J. Tharp Jr. imposed the sentence in federal court in Chicago. The sentence was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and James M. Gibbons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
The investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Victims of sexual exploitation are encouraged to call HSI’s toll-free tip line at (866) 347-2423, or logon to https://www.ice.gov/predator for further information.
The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Streicker. The Lakemoor Police Department, Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the Buffalo Grove Police Department provided assistance in the case.
Vastis was arrested in August 2014. He previously worked as a teacher at Meridian Middle School in Aptakisic-Tripp District 102 in Buffalo Grove. The school district cooperated with the investigation, and there were no allegations of sexual exploitation of Vastis’ students.
Related Federal Cases
- John C Vastis, Child Pornography Coercion, IL 2024 · Illinois
- John Doe Charged with Producing Child Pornography, Chicago IL, 2024 · Illinois
- John Paul Sparapani, Child Exploitation and Pornography, MO 2024 · Illinois
- John William McMahon, Distributing Child Pornography, NH · Iowa
- Peter Joseph Hickel Jr., Attempted Production of Child Pornography,… · Illinois
Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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