A Kewanee man will be sentenced in April after a judge found him guilty of one count of possession of child pornography in Henry County Circuit Court Tuesday.

After rejecting the State’s open plea offer that would have capped the sentence to three years in prison, Matthew C. Derr, 31, Kewanee, appeared at a bench trial before Judge Terry Patton.

Henry County State’s Attorney Catherine Runty called just one witness, Det. Trey Kazubowski with the Kewanee Police Department.

Under questioning, Kazubowski testified that in February of 2024, a notification from the Internet Crimes Against Children task force came into the Kewanee Police Department reporting an incident of child pornography along with the attached phone number and name of the cellular carrier.

Kazubowski said he received the video and saved it and opened a case through the KPD. The name attached to the phone was Matthew Derr, Kazubowski testified before pointing out the defendant dressed in a black suit seated next to Attorney Lance Camp.

In May of 2024, Kazubowski said he made contact with Derr after he intercepted his vehicle returning from Neponset and conducted a traffic stop on Railroad Avenue. Derr exited the vehicle and was arrested, Kazubowski testified. After reading Derr his rights, he was taken to the police department where he was interviewed by Kazubowski and Det. James Mock.

In a recorded interview, Kazubowski said Derr ultimately told the officers that the video he downloaded was “a one-time thing.” Derr, he said, downloaded the video and saved it to his phone and the cloud.

Kazubowski further testified that after seeking permission from Derr, he searched his phone but was unable to locate the video on the defendant’s phone. After further investigation, police found a message from Reddit banning Derr from the app due to explicit photos of minors, although once the Reddit app was downloaded, Kazubowski said they were unable to locate the video or suspected child pornography.

But Kazubowski said the video saved from the cyber tip did match up to Derr’s account information. Further questioning about Kazubowski’s knowledge of the video prompted an objection from Derr’s attorney, which the judge later overruled.

Kazubowski was questioned as to whether Derr seemed to recall the content of the video. Kazubowski replied that Derr characterized the video as that of an older male with a younger girl, but stated that Derr said he did not know the people in the video.

Offering a USB into evidence, Runty played the video for the court that depicted explicit images of a man and a much smaller female engaged in a sexual act.

Runty asked if the video shown to the court was the video Kazubowski had spoken to Derr about, to which the detective replied affirmatively.

“And no additional child pornography was found on his phone?” Runty said.

“That’s correct,” Kazubowski told the court.

In response to the State’s case, Camp rested, declining to cross-examine Kazubowski or call a witness. Derr also declined to testify, exercising his right to remain silent.

In closing arguments, Runty called the case against Derr, “fairly straightforward and simple.” Derr possessed child pornography by his own admission, Runty told the Court. He watched the video and provided detectives with a description of its contents.

“This is a child,” Runty said, “and the person depicted is under the age of 18.”

In the Defense’s closing argument, Camp told the Court that the State had failed to prove its case. First, Camp said, the State failed to provide evidence that Derr possessed the video between Feb. 22 and May 8.

Camp also said the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the female in the video was under the age of 18, since the video didn’t show the face or body development of the female. A voice can be heard on the audio but Camp said there is no evidence that the person speaking was the female in the video and not someone else in the room. Camp said there was a lack of evidence and asked the court to find Derr not guilty.

In the end, Judge Patton sided with the State on the possession issue, saying that there was sufficient evidence to show that Derr did possess the video and he cited the notification by the Internet Crimes Against Children task force alerting law enforcement to child pornography on Derr’s phone and Derr’s own admission to police.

“Is it child pornography?” Patton said.

Derr himself, Patton said, described the female as a little girl. But 1990 case law, Patton said, makes clear that the state isn’t required to present the person’s age nor does the State require expert testimony as to the person’s age.

“The Court can rely on observations,” Patton said, citing his own perceptions of the differences between the two people in the video. One was clearly an adult man, he said.

“We have a significant difference in size between the male and female,” adding that there was “no question in the Court’s mind that we’re talking about a child well under the age of 18.”

Judge Patton, finding the state had met its burden of proof, handed down a guilty verdict.

Possession of child pornography is a Class 2 felony, punishable by a sentence of 3-7 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

Derr will be sentenced on April 3