Shorewood Kiddie Porn Case Hits Court Next Month

A Shorewood piano tuner arrested more than three years ago on a child pornography charge is set to go to trial next month.

James Severson, 56, has been free on bond since shortly after the took him into custody on a warrant accusing him of possessing child pornography in May 2008.

Severson, who at the time of his arrest lived on Mazalin Drive in with his wife, Margaret DeLeon, and her 14-year-old daughter, posted $4,000 bond for his release and avoided a trip to the county jail.

It was DeLeon who alerted the police to the self-employed piano tuner's alleged possession of child pornography when she sought a court order to keep him away from her four months before his arrest.

"My husband has purchased 14 child pornography videos from a website that he has to download to view," DeLeon wrote in her petition for the order. "This website contains child pornography and I feel that if he finds out that I know about this website he could become violent with me or my daughter, who is 14.

"He is a former Marine and in the past has stated 'he knows how to kill people,'" DeLeon wrote in the petition.

The police scoured Severson's computer and found images of child pornography along with a video entitled "Our Summer Thai Childf--- Vacation," according to court papers.

The 28-minute, 29-second video depicted nude girls between the ages of 6 and 12 "engaging in acts of sexual penetration," according to court papers.

Severson's trial was scheduled to start this week but was postponed.