Former County Sheriff’s Deputy Sentenced to 50 Years in Federal Prison for Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

A former McHenry County sheriff’s deputy who was that department’s representative on the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for child sexual abuse and exploitation. The defendant, GREGORY M. PYLE, 39, of Crest Hills, Ill., formerly of Crystal Lake, Ill., was also placed on lifetime supervision after release from custody by U.S. District Comi Judge Frederick J. Kapala, who imposed the sentence in Federal Comi in Rockford.

Pyle, a sheriff’s deputy for more than a decade, pleaded guilty on Jan. 3 of this year, admitting that he crossed a state line with intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor. The sentencing hearing will be completed at 2:30 p.m. on Oct 21, 2014, when restitution and special conditions of supervised release will be imposed.

“For over five years, [Pyle] was entrusted with the efforts of the McHemy County Sheriff’s Office to protect children from exploitation and abuse. When he knew he was under investigation, [Pyle] successfully obstructed investigators determining the full scope of his criminal conduct,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Love argued in requesting a 50-year sentence.

In pleading guilty, Pyle admitted that on Dec. 13, 2008, he had custody of a child under 12 years of age, when he drove the child from Crystal Lake, Ill. to Milwaukee, Wis., intending to engage in sexual acts with the child and to produce visual depictions of the sexual conduct. Pyle admitted that he stayed overnight in a Milwaukee hotel and engaged in sexual acts with the child that were sadistic, masochistic, and violent. The defendant produced images of the child engaged in these sexual acts and later distributed the images over the Internet.