New Charge in Shorewood Kiddie Porn Case

The IT guy jailed since August for allegedly possessing child pornography now faces an additional, even stiffer charge of sexually exploiting a child in order to produce the illicit material.

Christopher Kice, 41, of 1110 Callaway Drive W. was already looking at a possible sentence of 10 years in prison. The new charge carries a minimum sentence 15 years behind bars and could put Kice away for as many as 30.

Kice was arrested in August after federal investigators examining his personal computer equipment found numerous electronic files bearing such names as "Church Girls Gone Wild," "underage illegal preteen daughter," "pedofil" and "lolitaguy" that contained images of child pornography, according to an affidavit sworn to by an FBI agent.

The computer equipment and the files they contained were confiscated during a St. Patrick's Day raid on Kice's Callaway Drive home, where he was living with his wife and two children.

Some of the pornographic pictures of young girls discovered by the FBI appeared to have been taken inside Kice's house, the affidavit said, but Kice was not charged with producing child pornography until a a grand jury later indicted him.

Kice, who is in custody in Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center, was scheduled to appear in federal court earlier this week for a pretrial hearing. The hearing was postponed and Kice's next court date was scheduled for February.