Frankfort Sex Offender Gets 8 Years For Child Pornography: County

NEW LENOX, IL — A Frankfort man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he pled guilty in December to two counts of class 1 child pornography, according to a release from the Will County State's Attorney's Office.

Aaron Bettenhausen, 43, was charged by the New Lenox Police Department in July 2020 after taking upskirt videos of women at a Target in New Lenox, according to the State's Attorney's Office.

Police reviewed Bettenhausen's phone and said they found numerous upskirt videos and photos, as well as photos of children engaged in pornographic acts, according to the state's attorney's office. Officers also later found several SIM cards with child pornography at Bettenhausen's home, police said.

At the time of the incident, Bettenhausen was already on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, after a 2014 conviction on three counts of class 2 child pornography, the state's attorney's office said.

“The conduct of this repeat child predator is morally repugnant,” Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow said in a release. “Sadly, the reality with child pornography is that the victimization can continue long after a photograph or video is taken; images placed on the internet can never be fully erased or recovered, and they can be passed from person to person indefinitely. That’s why I established the High Tech Crimes Unit in our Office in 2012 to work with local police departments to track and arrest individuals who trade child pornography over the internet. We need to do everything in our power to help investigate and prevent the vile exploitation of innocent children.”

The charges in Bettenhausen’s 2014 conviction were the result of an investigation by State’s Attorney Glasgow’s High Technology Crimes Unit and the Peotone Police Department, the state's attorney's office said. In that case, Bettenhausen was convicted on three counts of Class 2 Child Pornography and sentenced to adult probation as well as lifetime registration on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

Bettenhausen will serve the two four-year sentences for the most recent convictions consecutively and will receive credit for the 324 days he served before sentencing, according to the state's attorney's office.

• Sex Offender Charged With Unlawful Recording, Child Pornography