Rockford Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison on Child Pornography Charges

ROCKFORD — A Rockford man was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard to 12 years in federal prison, to be followed by 15 years of court-supervised release, on child pornography charges.

DONOVAN HEIDENREICH, 25, pleaded guilty on March 13, 2020, to charges of transportation of child pornography via the internet and possession of child pornography.

In a written plea agreement, Heidenreich admitted that on Sept. 25, 2017, he used a computer to send a video file over the internet to a fellow KIK chat application user.

The image depicted a male child under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Heidenreich also admitted that on Nov. 28, 2017, he possessed a laptop computer that contained more than 600 images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Heidenreich also admitted he traded images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct to other persons in exchange for his receipt of images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The sentencing was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Love.