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former McHenry County sheriff’s deputy who had investigated online sex crimes was sentenced to 50 years in prison Wednesday for the repeated sexual abuse of a child.
Gregory Pyle, who pled guilty in January to crossing a state line to engage in a sexual act with child under the age of 12, told the judge that he “couldn’t be more sorry for my actions. I hope that one day I’ll be free again.”
But that did little to sway U.S. District Judge Frederick Kapala, who called Pyle’s actions “heinous and despicable.”
“He took a young, helpless child” who should have been able trust Pyle and “he perverted the entire situation,”
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The victim’s mother also addressed the judge in federal court in Rockford Wednesday. She said her son is now angry and depressed and has been hospitalized twice for suicidal thoughts.
Pyle “never thought for one moment what he was doing to that little boy,” the woman said. “...I want you to remember my son's childhood is gone.”
Pyle, 39,
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dropped his head and appeared to wipe tears away as the woman spoke.
In seeking a sentence of 35 years, Pyle’s attorney noted his military and law enforcement background. He cited a letter from 2002, written by a military superior who described Pyle’s “good character.”
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Kapala said that while Pyle lived a seemingly law-abiding life as a police officer, he “was a horrible person who did despicable things.”
The fact that Pyle has “accepted responsibility” and shows remorse had little impact
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Prosecutors had alleged that Pyle shot video of the sexual abuse and shared it with others online. A charge of producing child pornography was dropped in exchange for Pyle’s guilty plea.
But as he sentenced Pyle, the judge also noted Pyle’s actions after he got caught, when he allegedly hid and destroyed evidence.
Pyle, who had worked on the state Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, used “heavy encryption” to hide the files on his personal computer and later threw a computer into a pond to hide evidence
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Pyle will serve his time in a federal prison outside of Illinois, where he is to receive sex offender counseling. He will serve 85 percent of the sentence and, if he is released, will be on mandatory supervision for life.
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said the fact that Pyle was working in law enforcement during the time he was abusing the boy spoke to the need for a severe sentence.
The judge also pointed to an interview Pyle gave to a social worker after his arrest, in which he reportedly said he feared he would abuse another boy if he had not been caught.
Pyle “went undetected for a long period of time. There is no reason to believe he would have stopped had he not been caught,”
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Pyle was arrested after a federal search of a downstate man’s computer found online aliases that investigators traced to Pyle.
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investigators interviewed a boy who told them Pyle had abused him over multiple years, both at Pyle’s home and at a hotel in Wisconsin in 2008.
Pyle was fired from the sheriff’s department following his arrest. He still faces a charge of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in McHenry County.
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Undersheriff Andrew Zinke said Wednesday that when department officials learned of the accusations against Pyle, they brought in investigators from several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the state attorney general’s office, to conduct a complete audit of the computers Pyle used on the job.
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noted the criminal investigation also indicated Pyle’s crimes occurred “away from the office.” Zinke said no red flags were raised about Pyle in a background check when he was hired about nine years ago.
“I don’t think 50 years is enough,” the undersheriff said of Pyle’s sentence. “... It’s a devastating occurrence when monsters are hiding right in front of you.”